Major undertakings produce outcomes that are believed to deliver great value to their users. It is difficult to know whether a major project will be short-lived or will endure over time. As necessary as they may be when begun, some projects deliver important results for only a short period of time and then are replaced by new methods or new technology. Others persist.
The Panama Canal connected two great oceans, and the reversal of the Chicago River—an engineering marvel—linked the East Coast shipping trade with the great Mississippi transportation corridor. But railroads swift-ly replaced shipping as a low-cost method of moving people and goods over long distances. The railroad projects across the northern states adopted a standard gauge and could be connected into a vast transportation network. But the southern states adopted a narrower gauge and had to reset their tracks to benefit from this vast network.
There are intangible benefits to project outcomes as well. The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Space Needle in Seattle—both engineered to draw attention to a big event—put those cities on the map for tourism and marked them with emblems of innovation that have endured. The astro-nomical wonder of Stonehenge in England, huge stone statues in Africa and Asia, South America’s “lost cities” in the Andes, and the cathedrals of Europe inspired the people of the past, and they continue to inspire us today (see Figure 1-4).
Viewing the results of massive projects in history reminds us that our advanced technology, learning, and project methods have shortened the timeframes needed to get project results. Cathedrals sometimes took 200 years to complete; the World Trade Center was built in 20 years. But a still longer view is needed. Sometime in the next five years the United States will have to address the upgrade of its vast network of interstate highways, which were built after World War II. But five years is not an adequate length of time for such a large undertaking. Many of the government planning agencies were found in the late 1980s to have no plan for raising funds to maintain society’s infrastructure.17
Not only our individual enterprises but also our society as a whole needs to have the infrastructure in place to initiate, fund, plan, and execute major projects. Currently, many separate agencies are responsible for dif-ferent parts of these massive projects. Running nationwide projects without a central project authority in government is much like running projects sep-arately within a large organization. A realistic supportive environment is important if we want to ensure project success and keep costs down. Where is this project management initiative to come from?
In Capetown, South Africa, a large segment of freeway stands above town along the waterfront, built by government officials without consider-ation for the funding required to link it with other transportation systems. Local project managers say that the city leaves it there as a reminder to think long range in their planning.18
Professional ethics address the professional project manager’s respon-sibility to society and the future. While it is easy to say that a project is only responsible for the outcome defined for that project over the period of time it is in existence, we know that the outcomes have a life cycle, and quality and value are assessed over the entire life cycle of a product or service until it is eliminated, demolished, or removed from service. Considering how it will endure over time or be maintained is part of management’s responsi-bility, but the project manager has the opportunity to build such considera-tions into the plan.
Cooperation Builds the Future
Fortunately, professional societies in the field of project management have begun working with government agencies in a number of different countries to integrate project management with the school systems and the policies governing public projects. More on these topics will be addressed in later chapters.19 In Chapter 12 we address how mature project environments manage the interdependent elements of projects.
Failed Projects Spur Improvement
Thanks to modern communications technology, failed projects also have staked out a space in human history. We may not consider them projects or even know why they failed, but they sit as examples in our minds as we con-template a new undertaking. We see images of ancient cities in the Middle East covered by desert sands, victims of environmental degradation. The steamship Titanic rests on the ocean floor, an engineering marvel that fell prey to its own self-confidence. Other less visible project failures are in our conscious minds through the news media. The Alaskan oil spill, the release of nuclear pollution onto the Russian plain, attempts to stem the AIDS epi-demic’s relentless march—all are common project examples in our news media and our history books. All share the legacy and challenges of project management. Ambitious projects continue to be conceived, planned, executed, and completed—with varying degrees of “success.” Sometimes teams study these examples to capture learning and improve our project track record in the future. Sometimes we have no answers, just the reminder of risk unmanaged or faulty assumptions.
Projects typically are carried out in a defined context by a specific group of people. They are undertaken to achieve a specific purpose for inno-vators, sponsors, and users. But project delivery of something new is also judged in a broader context of value. Projects are not judged at a single point in time but over the life cycle of the project’s product or outcome. Managing complex project interdependencies as well as the future effects of the proj-ect is part of the professional challenge. It is the profession of project man-agement that is devoted to increasing the value and success of projects and ensuring that what is delivered meets expectations of not just immediate users but of a broader set of stakeholders. This broader definition of project success is another element driving project management toward a profession.
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