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Learning from the
Titanic
Hailmar Suranthe de Silva
Post-Mortem
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Overview
Snapshot
Understand what went wrong
Blame-game and performance evaluation
Factors during voyage
Learning from History
How it relates to the IT field
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Snapshot of circumstance...
Business case
Safety and Luxury through new technology Unparalled Customer Experience
6 year construction and 2 year breakeven.
75% of revenue from first class reflects in space allocation:
60% for 905 first-class and 7% for 1134 third-class
Implied non-functional requirements due to perception/assumptions Lavish attention and money substituted processes
Over-confidence Marketing drive: unsinkable ship
Traditional safety (life-boats) given low priority
Old School Project Manager (Captain Smith) didnt trust new methodologies (ice bucket test)
Political Influence Project Sponsor (Bruce Ismay)
High Expectations setarrive a day early
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Snapshot of what happened...
Business and Economic pressures Under-prepared (lack of equipment) and untrained crew 83 of 900 were mariners
Under-quality material substituted
Untested processes/methods
Over-confidence Traditional safety methods (life-boats) given low priority
Safety: only mitigation by technology and no contingency/worst-case (life-boats)
Testing: was maiden voyage Prove Titanic is the best ship even when grounded (Fatal)
Decisions based on aesthetics and luxury compromised individual
safety features 16 vs 48 lifeboats uninterrupted 1st class view
Double skin not continued above water line room for Ballroom Compromised Bulkhead height
Proper Disaster Recovery and Change Management not established Business and Economic pressures still effecting
Undermined event due to over-confidence
No proper recovery process (gut feeling)
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Blame - game...
It was Captain Smiths fault:
The ships speed was too fast for the ice berg conditions and he refused to slow down
It was the Ship Builders fault:
The ships rivets were made of sub-standard iron and the impact caused the
Titanic to come apart
It was Bruce Ismays fault:Managing Director of the White Star Line was obsessed with crossing the Atlantic
in six days so he pressured Captain Smith not to slow down
It was Thomas Andrews fault:
The watertight compartments didnt reach as high as they should have because
the shipping company wanted more room for first class passengers
It was Captain Lords fault:
The Californian was 19 miles from the disaster and when they saw the flares,
even they had warned the Titanic of ice bergs in the area, he ignored the flares
and did not travel to the Titanic to help
Project Manager
Implementer
Sponsor
Architect (Design)
Support
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Project Performance...
Against Goal
Against Schedule
Original goal: Be world-class and premier in technology, safety
and luxury.
Actual: Unequal focus on above three elements created
contradicting decisions.
Schedule goal: Set sail on specified date and arrive a day early
Actual: Launch date achieved, however never completed voyage
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Project Performance...
Against Quality
Against Budget
Quality goal: The quality should be unmatched and provide
unparalleled experience whilst maintaining safety and speed
Actual:Aesthetic quality over-rode quality of safety on several
occasions and created a false sense of confidence (implied non-functional requirements)
Budget goal:Money was not an issue in the venture 2 yearpayback period
Actual:Investment never realised. Rather caused economic and
business pressures directly on project team
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Post-MortemBy Phase
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Phase-wise Post-Mortem...
Conception
Design
Ambitious Goals
Realisation of goals more difficult due to high expectation
Marketing and Sales not inline with rest of the team
Prototyped design
Worst-case scenario tested
Design compromised due to political pressure
Implementation Crashed schedule Inferior Material
Design compromisations not challenged
Testing No testing done Behaviour of such a large ship unknown as no precedent
Pressures - even safety drills were not performed properly
Deployment Pushing to the limit without testing over-confidence/pressure Mistrust of new technology
Disater Recovery Support protocols not established
Disaster protocols not planned for due to over-confidence Project Manager not in control of event
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Key Lessons
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Lessons-Learnt...
What went right?
What went wrong?
Ambitious Goal and Business Case
Excellent (original) Design Concept
Prototyping
Was in a position to deliver the customer experience planned for
The Project Manager allowed the Sponsor to dictate terms no pushback
The Sponsor often took-over control and interfered with actual delivery
The Project Manager did not have trust in his tools and people No final testing
Impact analysis not done on design modifications
No disaster recovery protocols or processes
Project benefits were not managed throughout each
phase of the project (safety compromised)
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How it fits with modern IT projects...
Compromises to safety features
Elevation of expectations
Allowed business pressures to override operational procedures
Disaster Recovery ignored due to over-confidence
Project Governance and Manage People and Teams:Project Roles need to be
clearly set-out and defined
Manage Project Communications: The Project Manager has a responsibility to say NO
Managing Scope: Set the right expectations
Managing Quality: Quality checkpoints and testing (final and integrated) are a must
Manage Benefits: Have an integrated benefit management plan and track it to
completion
Manage Risks: No matter how great the outlook seems plan for the worst. Have aDisaster Recovery program that is detailed and have escalated action phases
Avoiding ourproject
becoming the
next Titanic
Roots of
Titanicsdisaster in
project
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Questions
& Comments
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References
Titanic Lessons for IT Projects - IT Projects from Hell , Authored by Mark Kozak-
Holland, HP Services (July 13th, 2007)
Presentation for the Center for the Management of Information Technology (CMIT)Lessons-from-History
Link:
http://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Project
sv7.pdf
http://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Projectsv7.pdfhttp://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Projectsv7.pdfhttp://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Projectsv7.pdfhttp://www2.commerce.virginia.edu/cmit/activities/Lessons_from_Titanic_for%20Projectsv7.pdf