Publication No 8: Project Management Blunders:

Lessons from the Project that Built, Launched, and Sank Titanic; Multi-Media Publications Inc. (April 15, 2012), ISBN-10: 1554891221

5.9.1 Abstract

The aim is to show the reader how project management blunders were the root cause of the Titanic disaster. The publication looks at the Titanic case study through a project management lens and takes a detailed view of all aspects of the project from its business case, through to the sponsors and stakeholders, their decisions and the political dimensions, the vendor relationship, and how all this was managed. Published to coincide with the centenary it provides an alternative view of the narrative very much shaped by the management of the project. Compared to Titanic publications (No 1&3) the use of the Titanic case study was expanded even further to be the only thread in the publication. 5.9.2 Context and Relevance

There is substantial interest in project success and failure and the case study contributes valuable lessons to this. The target reader is the project professional who can examine this

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project through the nine knowledge areas of the PMBoK® (2008) and hence gain a better understanding of their application.

5.9.2.1 Research Methods 1) Central

concepts & terminologies

The difficulties in managing principal stakeholders and the sponsor through the requirements process, and how they can unwittingly compromise the project without realizing their actions.

2) Investigation, synthesis, interpretation & explanation

The research for the publication started with a theoretical framework based on the inter-dependencies between the project life-cycles of the two ships Olympic and Titanic (maiden voyages were 11 months apart). Causal analysis pushed research into areas of the Olympic-class project not scrutinized before, forming a hypothesis that Titanic’s project life- cycle was impacted by the Olympic/Hawke incident. The research evolved as the reading continued (Inquiry Report into the Olympic/Hawke

Incident). An iterative approach was taken where the research activity moved between data collection and theorizing, common to qualitative research (Bryman and Bell, 2007, pp. 407). Initially, the incident seemed unrelated but with more details the scale of the accident was significant, triangulated by the images found in the archive. The causal hypothesis changed from whether this incident impact Titanic’s project

(cannibalisation of parts, shifting workers) to how could the project leadership allow this to pass, and then cut back Titanic’s sea trials (testing).

3) Evidence from primary & secondary

Primary sources: The UK National Archives contained three sources. First, the Board of Trade (BOT) Reports on the project, an extensive collection of minutes and reports submitted by BOT inspectors/surveyors who visited the Harland & Wolff shipyard several thousand times during the 5 year project. The documents are an audit trail of project activities that BOT inspectors were involved in, and a historical record of a number of project management processes that were in place like procurement and quality management. Inspections were completed in all project areas including crew space, passenger’s quarters and surveyor’s report on steel tests.

Second, the Inquiry Report into the Olympic/Hawke Incident covers the full background and account of this incident with images that were collected and presented at the inquiries. This was not a simple court case and was escalated through the court system as the Royal Navy and White Star battled it out for 5 years.

Third, the written accounts from the two post disaster inquiries (UK and US), both online, with hundreds of eyewitness testimonies. Some physical evidence (structural – rivets, plates) pulled up from the wreck site, and part of a travelling museum. One issue was the limited impact the wreck site has had overall.

Secondary sources: more references on the 4 year project in publications. One publication researched the Public Records Office in Northern Ireland

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for Harland & Wolff board meeting minutes. 4) Characteristic

techniques

On-site visits to Belfast (5 locations), Liverpool (2 locations),

Southampton, Halifax and New York, and the corresponding museums in each city. Recorded radio interviews (1950) with surviving officers (Lightholler, Boxgrove); Corporate histories of the relationship between the companies White Star and Harland & Wolff, and JP Morgan’s financial institution. From this an examination of the project stakeholders and also their role in the project. New documentaries: Saving The Titanic, (2012), docu-drama of the engineers who worked tirelessly to keep the Titanic's essential electricity running during the disaster.

Table 5.8: Project Management Blunders 5.9.2.2 How it Contributes to the Discipline

The publication contributes principally to project management by analyzing each phase of the project, and then exploring themes that are interrelated and rarely viewed in a single case study like:

 How the requirements management process can be impacted.

 How complex interrelationships between projects in a program need to be carefully managed.

 How the executive sponsor can unwittingly compromise the project.

 How project over confidence can completely invalidate some project stages. Organisations can successfully collect different types of requirements (business/functional/ nonfunctional) but they are highly inter-dependent and if not carefully managed can compromise the design phase. An executive sponsor can unwittingly compromise the

project by influencing the emphasis on certain types of requirements and not paying enough attention to other types, typically the nonfunctional.

Project over confidence played a big part with the project team who viewed the ship as practically unsinkable. This raised the complacency and allowed major mistakes to be made in the implementation of the project which led to the disaster.

5.9.2.3 Impact Factor

This publication was presented to a HP internal web forum for project management with over 1000 attendees. It has been presented to many project management PMI chapters recently, typically as part of a full day workshop.

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