It was project managers slavish following of delivery dates that samnk the Titanic.
The bit that is often left out of the documentaries, is that the Titanic really was designed to be unsinkable.
She was designed to have airtight bulkheads throughout her length. They would have kept her afloat despite bigger holes than the iceberg made. The problem was, they were not finished when she sailed. If they had been, she would have survived the iceberg.
So why did she sail before she was finished? Because they didn't want to miss the "release date". Project managers never learn, it is better to do things right and take the bullet for being late.
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My goodness, I thought Theseus had done away with you millenia ago!
How does one "finish a bulkhead" within a ship which has been launched and fitted out? While I understand your frustration with the evil entity that is Project Management and share in it myself to some extent, please realize that Titanic set sail with all of her watertight compartments quite firmly in place. They were, after all, structural members within the ship in addition to being part of the safety system intended to render her "unsinkable". The bulkheads dividing Titanic's watertight compartments were not "unfinished" in any sense, and were fully in place on her maiden voyage. They were, however, sadly underengineered. Titanic's decks, from her main deck to her keel, were assigned letters beginning from "A" for her highest deck above the waterline and extending throught the alphabet to the lowest decks near the keel.
Unfortunately for Titanic and those aboard her, the watertight bulkheads extended above the waterline only as far as F and E decks. The collision with the iceberg holed the first six watertight comparments, and as the weight of the water within the compartments increased, pulling the bow down, each compartment overflowed into the next. Had the bulkheads extended a few decks higher, Titanic's demise may have been extended by hours or even days.
The next time you publish some screed retrofitting one of your favorite prejudices to historical fact, you may want to go way out on a limb and attempt some research first. In this case, a quick read of Walter Lord's "A Night To Remember" would (possibly) have prevented you from looking like a total horse's ass on a public form.
Probably not, though.
dgaas
How does one "finish a bulkhead" within a ship which has been launched and fitted out? While I understand your frustration with the evil entity that is Project Management and share in it myself to some extent, please realize that Titanic set sail with all of her watertight compartments quite firmly in place. They were, after all, structural members within the ship in addition to being part of the safety system intended to render her "unsinkable". The bulkheads dividing Titanic's watertight compartments were not "unfinished" in any sense, and were fully in place on her maiden voyage. They were, however, sadly underengineered. Titanic's decks, from her main deck to her keel, were assigned letters beginning from "A" for her highest deck above the waterline and extending throught the alphabet to the lowest decks near the keel.
Unfortunately for Titanic and those aboard her, the watertight bulkheads extended above the waterline only as far as F and E decks. The collision with the iceberg holed the first six watertight comparments, and as the weight of the water within the compartments increased, pulling the bow down, each compartment overflowed into the next. Had the bulkheads extended a few decks higher, Titanic's demise may have been extended by hours or even days.
The next time you publish some screed retrofitting one of your favorite prejudices to historical fact, you may want to go way out on a limb and attempt some research first. In this case, a quick read of Walter Lord's "A Night To Remember" would (possibly) have prevented you from looking like a total horse's ass on a public form.
Probably not, though.
dgaas
desperate for a 'topical' idea were we? Where 'most searched terms' meets complete lack of thought.
This isn't even about project management - it's about accident causation/human factors.
This isn't even about project management - it's about accident causation/human factors.
"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
There are many lessons to be learned from this terrible tragedy.
I've seen those 1500 deaths trivialized in more tasteless ways.
There are many lessons to be learned from this terrible tragedy.
I've seen those 1500 deaths trivialized in more tasteless ways.
The issue here is still mainly related to Human Nature and no matter what we do there is nothing we can do to prevent that happening.
With Titanic if any one of things that went wrong didn't happen then the likelihood of the ship sinking would most likely not have happened, and as The White Star Line had to recover the massive costs associated with the Olympia the Sister Ship of Titanic which had undergone several trips to the Repairer with at least one of those repairs costing more than the ship originally cost to build. Titanic was supposed to rescue the Shipping Line and the Total Belief in their own Spin was enough to prevent Good Management from happening.
But then again if the crew on watch at the time had not of tried to avoid the Iceberg the ship most likely wouldn't have sunk. Or if there was a Universal Distress Signal those that ended in the water most likely would never have got their feet wet.
What does CQD actually mean and how many non European people knew what it actually was?
The good that did happen after Titanic Sunk was the Standardization of Distress Calls World Wide and Radio Rooms being manned 24/7 and that alone made the loss of the Titanic and all that died on her worth it. As if it had not of been so spectacular the world would have continued alone on it's merry way and there would have been no standardization or Radio Rooms constantly manned, the the resulting loss of Life while maybe not of being so spectacular would have been far greater in Overall Numbers but there would have been lots of smaller incidents with fewer individuals dieing in each incident but far more incidents. The good that came from the loss of the Titanic made it's loss worthwhile for everyone in the world.
Also whatever happened to the Olympic? It was still around after Titanic Sunk but I have not been able to find out any details of it's life after Titanic went down.
Col
With Titanic if any one of things that went wrong didn't happen then the likelihood of the ship sinking would most likely not have happened, and as The White Star Line had to recover the massive costs associated with the Olympia the Sister Ship of Titanic which had undergone several trips to the Repairer with at least one of those repairs costing more than the ship originally cost to build. Titanic was supposed to rescue the Shipping Line and the Total Belief in their own Spin was enough to prevent Good Management from happening.
But then again if the crew on watch at the time had not of tried to avoid the Iceberg the ship most likely wouldn't have sunk. Or if there was a Universal Distress Signal those that ended in the water most likely would never have got their feet wet.
What does CQD actually mean and how many non European people knew what it actually was?
The good that did happen after Titanic Sunk was the Standardization of Distress Calls World Wide and Radio Rooms being manned 24/7 and that alone made the loss of the Titanic and all that died on her worth it. As if it had not of been so spectacular the world would have continued alone on it's merry way and there would have been no standardization or Radio Rooms constantly manned, the the resulting loss of Life while maybe not of being so spectacular would have been far greater in Overall Numbers but there would have been lots of smaller incidents with fewer individuals dieing in each incident but far more incidents. The good that came from the loss of the Titanic made it's loss worthwhile for everyone in the world.
Also whatever happened to the Olympic? It was still around after Titanic Sunk but I have not been able to find out any details of it's life after Titanic went down.
Col
I believe there were three ships in this design class:
- Titanic: the one everyone remembers
- Britannic: Sank in 1916 after hitting a German mine during the war
- Olympic: survived until retirement in 1935 (interestingly, she also rammed and sank a U-boat during WWI, and after the war, accidentally sank another ship in the 20's)
There was a woman named Violet Jessup who famously survived the Titanic, was on the Britannic when it hit the mine, and had been on the Olympic when it hit another ship in 1911.
- Titanic: the one everyone remembers
- Britannic: Sank in 1916 after hitting a German mine during the war
- Olympic: survived until retirement in 1935 (interestingly, she also rammed and sank a U-boat during WWI, and after the war, accidentally sank another ship in the 20's)
There was a woman named Violet Jessup who famously survived the Titanic, was on the Britannic when it hit the mine, and had been on the Olympic when it hit another ship in 1911.
If you believe Wikipedia--or are willing to chase some of the references listed in the article--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Olympic will tell you quite a bit. Short version is it lived a long and somewhat interesting life, survived contact with three other ships, and was scrapped when it was regarded as surplus.
(Interesting life: it turned on, rammed, and sank a U-Boat that had been trying to torpedo it, for instance.)
(Interesting life: it turned on, rammed, and sank a U-Boat that had been trying to torpedo it, for instance.)
CQ (which sounds like "seek you") is still used in amateur radio. CQD is just "seek you distress". SOS was chosen because of it's distinctive sound although in my humble opinion CQ is pretty distintive sounding in morse code as well. BTW Phillips did use SOS towards the end. For those interested the BBC did a documentary about the morse code transmissions from Titanic.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00q89fy/Discovery_Titanic_In_Her_Own_Words/
When you ask how many non-Europeans knew what CQD was I suspect you meant non-English speakers since I don't think a lot of non-Europeans had wireless telegraph. I think they knew what it meant but didn't like a standard based on what things sound like in English.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00q89fy/Discovery_Titanic_In_Her_Own_Words/
When you ask how many non-Europeans knew what CQD was I suspect you meant non-English speakers since I don't think a lot of non-Europeans had wireless telegraph. I think they knew what it meant but didn't like a standard based on what things sound like in English.
I don't agree with point number 3. While it is important to finish the tasks on your to-do list, it is also important to be aware of emerging problems. Phillips was not "goofing off" as might be implied by this point. He had a list of messages to send and by gully he was going to send them, even if it meant forcefully rejecting a message warning him of danger.
Suppose you have to deploy a suite of software to 100 machines, and after the first 20 you start receiving complaints that the deployment is faulty. Do you continue to deploy so you meet your deadline and not catch heck from management, or do you stop the deployment and notify your supervisor? Do you tell the people who are warning you to shut up because you have work to do? You could be ignoring the equivalent of an iceberg for your project.
Suppose you have to deploy a suite of software to 100 machines, and after the first 20 you start receiving complaints that the deployment is faulty. Do you continue to deploy so you meet your deadline and not catch heck from management, or do you stop the deployment and notify your supervisor? Do you tell the people who are warning you to shut up because you have work to do? You could be ignoring the equivalent of an iceberg for your project.
If you want some real (useful) information on project management and the Titanic (or several other historical projects) check out Mark Kozak-Holland's books.
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/search/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=mark+kozak-holland&rh=n%3A916520%2Ck%3Amark+kozak-holland&ajr=0
Good information, good analysis. Good speaker too.
Glen Ford, PMP
http://www.vproz.ca
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/search/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=mark+kozak-holland&rh=n%3A916520%2Ck%3Amark+kozak-holland&ajr=0
Good information, good analysis. Good speaker too.
Glen Ford, PMP
http://www.vproz.ca
White Star Line managing director Bruce Ismay, who ordered several cost cuts like no double hull and fewer lifeboats, escaped the Titanic in a lifeboat and lived to a ripe old age. Chief engineer Thomas Andrews and Captain Smith went down with the ship along with a lot of the crew.
Interesting article...here's a post in response to another TechRepublic article on why IT projects fail and how you can use that knowledge and the project management framework in career management ( http://mdalums95.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/cio-it-career-project-management-how-to-plan-for-success/ ).
Excellent article! Of course with the Titanic disaster, the victims will not benefit from the lessons learned, but each point made is valid and well made. Thank you!
The same lessons could be learned from the problems in management, oversight and collaboration in all the failures that allowed 9-11, the '08 financial system meltdown and the shuttle crashes to happen (to name a few.)
Anniversaries like this give us a great though sobering opportunity to review, reflect, look forward and prevent.
Thanks to the author for pointing out these commonalities between preventable disasters large and small, historic and temporary.
Same time, next century.
Anniversaries like this give us a great though sobering opportunity to review, reflect, look forward and prevent.
Thanks to the author for pointing out these commonalities between preventable disasters large and small, historic and temporary.
Same time, next century.
Calvin, I really enjoyed your post. It's such a creative idea! I was inspired enough to write a follow up on our blog of other lessons I learned from the stories you brought. I hope you enjoy it.
http://illuminea.com/blogging/7-more-project-management-lessons-from-the-titanic-disaster/
http://illuminea.com/blogging/7-more-project-management-lessons-from-the-titanic-disaster/
No matter how great the idea of a project is, and how much experience you have as a project manager, you can never be 100% immune to project failure. This is why this topic always brings up such a hot and stirring discussion in the PM space.
I really like the idea of the article, and I think that all these points from early 20th century still hold true today. Lessons 4 and 5 look especially valuable to me. Project managers might have different opinions regarding the causes of project failure, but I bet all of them agree that learning is essential. By the way, we recently published a post where 5 seasoned project managers share their practical lessons they'd recommend to learn from project failure: http://www.wrike.com/blog/03/05/2013/What-Can-We-Learn-Project-Failure-5-Lessons-Project-Management-Experts The point about keeping stakeholders in the loop is observed there, too.
Of course, no one likes to fail, but if you look at the bright side, it might be a really abundant source of professional wisdom. You just need to look from the right angle and look really thoroughly.
I really like the idea of the article, and I think that all these points from early 20th century still hold true today. Lessons 4 and 5 look especially valuable to me. Project managers might have different opinions regarding the causes of project failure, but I bet all of them agree that learning is essential. By the way, we recently published a post where 5 seasoned project managers share their practical lessons they'd recommend to learn from project failure: http://www.wrike.com/blog/03/05/2013/What-Can-We-Learn-Project-Failure-5-Lessons-Project-Management-Experts The point about keeping stakeholders in the loop is observed there, too.
Of course, no one likes to fail, but if you look at the bright side, it might be a really abundant source of professional wisdom. You just need to look from the right angle and look really thoroughly.
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