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Email philip.lawrence@uwe.ac.uk
Prof. Jim Scanlan
Computational Engineering and Design Research Group
School of Engineering Sciences
University of Southampton
Tel: (office) 02380 592369
Fax: 02380 594813
Email j.p.scanlan@soton.ac.uk
Paper Submitted for Publication to the Journal of Technology Assessment and Strategic
Management
Why Projects Fail
2
Abstract
The arguments, analysis and observations in this paper are based on 10 years of research with partners
in the European and US aerospace and defence industries. During this period the authors were part of
a team of researchers at Bristol UWE, Southampton University and Rolls-Royce PLC, who were
seeking to develop a new methodology and tool set for project management, particularly aimed at
large aerospace projects.
The research was motivated by the seemingly ubiquitous reality of project failure, with large
engineering projects apparently always late and over budget. Here we focus on aerospace and
defence, but the problems are generic across all branches of engineering. In our view aerospace and
defence have more excuses than most, because not only are the projects huge, they are also globally
distributed and highly complex.
As our work progressed a fundamental conundrum emerged. As we talked to project managers and
assessed the teams that were undertaking the projects it became obvious that they were well educated,
intelligent, highly motivated and very capable people. So why were so many projects going wrong?
Soon we could see that projects were going wrong in all sectors and in many different countries. So
obviously the problems were not to do with incompetence, as they clearly were so generic. Our
ultimate finding has been that the very technology available for managing projects today is inadequate.
As we argue below, modern, complex projects cannot be planned and executed using 50-year-old
project management tools.
The paper tells the story of what’s wrong with the current technology and how and why it needs to
change. The authors are well aware that there are also cultural problems in project management, but in
fact many of these derive from the use of inadequate tools.
Many of the insights and arguments developed here have come from discussions with personnel at
BAE SYSTEMS, Boeing, Airbus and Rolls-Royce. However, all the cited factual material in this
paper comes only from publicly, published sources. We wish to thank all our interviewees, who
naturally requested that they remain anonymous.
Why Projects Fail
3
Why Large Engineering Projects Often Fail
The key to a successful project is in the planning. Creating a project plan is the first thing you should
do when undertaking any kind of project, (Duncan Haughey, Project Smart)
A note on the Research
Since 1996 the authors of this paper have been working on a new methodology and tool set for project
management aimed at the defence and aerospace industries. In the course of the theoretical work on
this subject the researchers have given more than 50 presentations to industrial audiences from
defence and aerospace prime companies, chiefly made up of project managers. At an early stage in
this research it was decided that a series of interviews with senior engineers and project managers
would enhance the authors’ understanding of the difficulties and challenges of today’s very large
engineering projects. This understanding has been supplemented by the fact that both researchers
work for UK and European prime companies as consultants. In other words they have hands on
experience of some of the issues discussed below. If one wanted to name the methodology employed
it could be called an ethno methodology of project management.
However, despite direct knowledge of some of the projects mentioned in this paper actual citations
about the projects that were analysed have only been taken from existing public sources. This is
because project performance can significantly affect individual careers and the financial performance
of the companies involved. Accordingly, we felt it appropriate to allow our collaborators to remain
anonymous.
Introduction
In the last few years the international news media has run many stories highlighting major programme
delays and failures in a number of engineering sectors, both in Europe and North America. This paper
assesses the causes of project failure in the defence and aerospace industries, where some of the
biggest and most complex projects are undertaken. It appears that when major aerospace and defence
prime companies undertake large engineering projects the associated programmes invariably run over
cost and over time. In the UK in 2002/2003 much of the focus was on BAE SYSTEMS, when its
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