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circular iterative process that gradually establishes better quality information, allowing the required
design action to be completed. Planning how the design process will evolve is far from
straightforward.
To make matters even more difficult for project managers, the process of design iteration is becoming
ever more complex. For example, large aircraft projects, such as the Boeing 787, now have up to 80%
of key design and manufacturing work subcontracted out to strategic and risk-sharing partners
distributed across the world. Interactive web-based design tools like Dassault’s CATIA 5
(Computer-aided, Three-dimensional, Interactive Application) facilitate this kind of distributed
working, but they also carry some major risks. Distributed, interactive design teams share access to a
master digital mock-up (DMU) of the product they are developing. But if errors are entered into the
digital model their effects can become distributed across the whole programme if they remain
undetected. This vulnerability is particularly acute today as the fragmented way of working means
that fewer engineers have an overall model of the whole project.
In addition it appears that some CAD design tools may not be able to adequately represent the real
world complexity of aircraft design. Sometimes tools take a project forward in one direction, but
backwards in another. On the BAE SYSTEMS’ NIMROD MR4 programme new design tools gave a
good visualisation of the production challenges, but added to the complexity and the resources needed
for engineering.12 But in addition, re-engineering the first generation civil jet Comet airframe, when
each aircraft had subtle physical differences, was too great a challenge for the CAD tools, which
require digital isomorphism with the product.
Complexity adds to the management problem making the inner logic of projects opaque to the people
running them. Our research showed that project complexity seems to have exceeded the capacity of
project planning. What are clearly needed now are tools that can model the iterative design process
and the dynamic complexities of programmes and cope with the more flexible management structures
that characterise contemporary engineering. The planning model must correctly represent the
complexity of the project. Representation of the work being undertaken is critical. Our observations
lead us to believe that the graphical representation of work in current tools is highly questionable.
Cultural Factors
In the 1980s a number of management science authors began to focus on the question of
organisational culture. The performance of businesses was linked to concepts such as excellence and
learning. 13 While there is no distinctive literature about culture and projects, project performance can
certainly be seen to have links with aspects of organisational culture.
The cultural factors unearthed in our research revealed a deep conservatism in the engineering
community and some reluctance to embrace new methods. This especially compounds issues of
interoperability, which has plagued the A380. As Charles Champion, former A380 boss admits,
legacy issues work against the uptake of new tools, ‘Attempts to have common tools failed for various
reasons. It's all about legacy: When you start to use a tool, changing tools is an enormous
investment.’14 But in addition we found that organisations become used to their own tool sets and find
it difficult to give up established practices and familiar software products. On large projects, like the
Airbus A380, it is essential to have established a common and integrated tool set and also common
methods and processes. Yet this did not happen. Problems with the wiring of the aircraft have at least
11 D. White and J. Fortune, ‘Current Practice in Project Management — an Empirical study’, International
Journal of Project Management , Volume 20, Issue 1 , (January 2002, Pages 1-11).
12 BAE SYSTEMS Annual General Meeting, (May 2001).
13 The classic text is T. Peters and R. Waterman, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run
Companies, (HarperCollins, New York, 1982)
14 See manufacturing.cadalyst.com/manufacturing/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=390123
Why Projects Fail
7
partly resulted from German and French engineering team using different versions of the CATIA
design tool.15
Other problems relate to the wider culture of organisations and their approach to learning. But there is
also a political dimension. The nature of business hierarchies and the flow of information up and
down the hierarchy critically affect the performance of major projects. Desirable cultural features
revolve around openness, honesty, knowledge sharing and trust. In certain organisational cultures,
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