The 8 Worst-Managed

Projects of All Time

How you can learn from

history with better planning,

communication, and foresight

An Introduction to Failure

Most projects start out as great ideas. But, somewhere

along the way, mistakes are made, communication

breaks down, and, most projects—70% of them— end

up late, over budget, and on the way to the project

dumpster.

An Introduction to FailureThe following 8 projects failed epically, but therein are

contained lessons any smart work manager can benefit

from, like:

• The value of getting project goals aligned

• The wisdom of controlling requirements and budget

• The need to set and adhere to realistic deadlines

When growth outpaced

communication, the once

unbeatable empire broke

into two empires: the

Greek in the East and the

Latin in the West.

# 8

The Outcome:

• Cultures were divided.

• Communities threw up

silos.

• Resources went unused.

# 8

It could’ve been different if

they had:

• Focused on increasing

the quality and frequency

of their communication

• Regularly aligned their

priorities around shared

goals

# 8

The Takeaway: Misaligned

goals leave a project with

scattered priorities and

complicate communication.

To keep your project on

track, find a way to facilitate

healthy collaboration and

agree on a single target –

regardless of the distance.

# 8

The roofless Sinclair C5

was supposed to be a better,

more affordable way to

commute. Unfortunately, it

went into production

without considering one

immutable fact: its market

was in the rain-heavy

United Kingdom.

# 7

The Outcome:

• The vehicle couldn’t

reverse or steer.

• Consumers bought only

17,000 units of the rain-

vulnerable design.

• Sinclair Vehicles filed

for bankruptcy 11

months later.

# 7

It could’ve been different if

they had:

• Taken more time to

understand customer

requirements before

starting

• Put proper quality

assurance checkpoints

in place during the

project

# 7

The Takeaway: Successful

projects have complete

visibility into the quality of

their products and the needs

of the customer. If the

Sinclair team would have

spent more time prioritizing

these requirements, they

might have sold more than a

paltry 17,000 units.

# 7

What would be the world’s

largest commercial aircraft,

the Airbus A380 required

production in facilities

across the globe.

Unfortunately, these teams

were using different CAD

programs.

# 6

The Outcome:

• During installation, they

discovered the parts

designed by different

teams didn’t fit together.

• As they went back to the

drawing board, the

project was set back two

years and $6.1 billion

over budget.

# 6

It could’ve been different if

they had:

• Aligned the different

teams on one software

to ensure design.

• Communicated more

regularly from team to

team, instead of waiting

for installation to see if

parts would match.

# 6

The Takeaway: Many

successful projects avoid

failure in large part by

implementing these two key

differentiators: a single

system of truth and

collaboration among teams

whether they share the same

office or occupy hallways

across the globe.

# 6

Early on, the sort-of SUV

crossover drifted down a sad

road when the production

team failed to inform the

designers that the vehicle

had to be based on an

existing minivan platform.

# 5

The Outcome:

• It was dubbed “one of the

ugliest cars ever made.”

• The vehicle’s target

audience rejected its

look, price, and add-ons.

• GM sold only 27,322

units, short even of its

modest break-even

estimates.

# 5

It could’ve been different if

they had:

• Taken more time to

understand their target

audience and their

requirements

• Increased communication

between the production

and design teams, which

came too little, too late.

# 5

The Takeaway: Successful

projects establish up front

who needs to know what and

who is responsible for

communicating that

information. The minivan

platform requirement

ultimately changed the entire

look and destiny of the

Pontiac Aztek.

# 5

The global warming epic’s

production was supposed to

be 96 days at $100 million.

Several script rewrites, one

tropical storm, and one

AWOL director later, the

shoot was way past due and

drowning in an overflowing

budget.

# 4

The Outcome:

• Shooting started without

a complete script,

resulting in lots of re-

shoots.

• The shoot stretched to 150

days and went $135

million over budget.

• Bad publicity doomed

the intended blockbuster

to only modest box office.

# 4

It could’ve been different if

they had:

• Secured a finished script

prior to the start of

filming

• Performed meteorological

research on the area where

they would be filming

(the Hawaiian coast) and

how weather might affect

their filming schedule

# 4

The Takeaway: Successful

projects aren’t anomalies.

They, too, deal with shifting

priorities and resource swaps.

What sets them apart from

failed projects is the ability to

foresee problems and prevent

major disasters. Much of this

battle is won in the planning

phase.

# 4

Millions were spent to make

sure people knew Windows

Vista would be the greatest

thing ever. But constant

changes delayed its release,

and Vista fell short of inflated

expectations—slower, less

secure, and less popular than

its predecessor.

# 3

The Outcome:

• One-third of all new PC

owners abandoned Vista

in favor of Windows XP.

• Delays caused Vista to be

released in the slowest

selling season of the year.

• Existing software on the

market wasn’t

compatible with Vista.

# 3

It could’ve been different if

they had:

• Nailed down a fixed set of

strategic objectives,

instead of fixating on

features

• Settled for a manageable

set of initial requirements,

then planned post-release

iterations to add the bells

and whistles

# 3

The Takeaway: Delay after

delay created an anticipation

to which few products could

measure up. In this high-

stakes context, project leaders

failed to manage

expectations, get complete

visibility into the real issues,

and follow a strict timeline

for the product’s release.

# 3

When Knight Capital was

brought on to work on new

code for a new SEC program,

an aggressive deadline was

set. It’s highly likely, experts

say, that Knight Capital, short

on time, went to production

with test code.

# 2

The Outcome:

• A glitch cost the company

$440 million in the first

30 minutes of trading—3x

their annual earnings.

• Company stock fell 75%

in just two days.

• The company nearly went

bankrupt and had to take

out a $400-million line of

credit.

# 2

It could’ve been different if

they had:

• Invested in better resource

management to forecast

how long the project

would feasibly take and

avoid setting an arbitrary

deadline

• Established a more robust

quality assurance process

# 2

The Takeaway: Successful

projects utilize the resources

they have and outsource work

they can’t complete if they’re

on a deadline. Successful

project managers build in

time for proper QA.

# 2

Malfunctioning rings. Hotels

missing floors. The worst

case of pink eye ever.

Runaway deadlines and

nonexistent transparency took

the 2014 Olympic Games

way over budget and under-

whelming in front of a global

audience.

# 1

The Outcome:

• Hotels, venues, and the

Opening Ceremonies

were riddled with

embarrassing faux pas.

• From an original $12-

billion budget, the Sochi

Games ballooned to an

astonishing $51 billion—

4x the original budget.

# 1

It could’ve been different if

they had:

• Based project completion

deadlines on historical

project data

• Made real-time reports

on all projects and tasks

transparent to all team

members and stakeholders

• Invested in increased cost

management measures

# 1

The Takeaway: Successful

projects account for all things

planned and unplanned.

Building in buffer time for

unanticipated problems and

fire-drill requests will keep

projects on track, on budget,

and on time—a lesson the

Sochi Olympic team learned

the hard way.

# 1

A Conclusion to Failure

Yes, hindsight is 20/20. However, with rare exception,

even the biggest project failures can be avoided by

improving requirements-gathering, alignment, and

estimates during the planning phase and increasing

communication and reporting during production.