My current favorite book on project management is How Big Things Get Done by By Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner. Thanks Chris Jung, PMP for gifting me the book!
The book has lots of great insights on why projects fail and how to fix them. Today I’m sharing learnings from the Sydney Opera House project.
🏛️The Sydney Opera House is a national icon of Australia 🐨, a design marvel and UNESCO World Heritage Listed. But as a build project, it was deeply troubled:
1300% over budget
10 years late
Architect Jørn Utzon resigned mid-way through the project.
So why did the project go so wrong?
🚩Despite Utzon clearly stating the structural design wasn’t finished, the government insisted on ‘putting shovels in the ground’.
🚩The build started without engineering reports, detailed delivery plan or final budget.
🚩Furthermore, there were no known methods to build the complex roof structure.
What can we learn for IT Projects?
1) Know what you’re building
Be very clear on the end state goal and share it with everyone.
Finalize the technology and business process design.
2) Iterative planning.
Before build, walkthrough key business processes with users.
Iterate on the design through active planning, trials, PoCs and testing, not theoretical.
3) Right people in right seats
Assign a Project manager to lead the project.
Form a team with experiri, Latin for having expertise and experience.
If you can’t get expertise, add time for training.
