Project Firecracker Case Study
PROJECT FIRECRACKER CASE STUDY
Eva Neugebauer – 2060
Federica Picozzi – 1982
Francisca Lopes Pinto – 2048
Konstantin Gusev – 2018
WHY DID THE PROJECT FAIL?
The project failed due to three main reasons that reinforced the negative impact of one another:
Poor communication
There was a poor coordination between individuals. One example was the situation where Waldo and Wolinski took decisions individually without consulting the other members. In fact, the first informed Jeff that he was changing the design while the second one announced that sales had promised to deliver a test order that no one could even describe yet.
Another example was when Jack White, the distributor salesman, replied to Bob Jones, National’s Sales Vice-president, that it was acceptable to extend the deadline one week without actually confirming this possibility with the right competent. These situations resulted in mismanagement of expectations of their client and failure to meet their commitments that could be avoided with the methodology of project management.
Non-uniform priorities
Each sub-department is currently under the effect of myopia because employees look to the objectives, targets or processes of their own functional area while neglecting the success of the project as a whole. The company lacks in terms of practices that could incentivize the alignment of priorities.
“The only way that the project engineer can get these departments to make commitments is through persuasion or through the chief engineer, who could go to the Vice President of manufacturing and engineering. If the engineer is convincing the Vice President will dictate to the appropriate manager what must be done.”
No project manager
The inexistence of an individual enabled with autonomy to both plan the project and monitor its implementation through the several functional areas does not prevent the current delays in deadlines. Additionally, in this specific case, the chief engineer did not have the
Eva Neugebauer – 2060
Federica Picozzi – 1982
Francisca Lopes Pinto – 2048
Konstantin Gusev – 2018
WHY DID THE PROJECT FAIL?
The project failed due to three main reasons that reinforced the negative impact of one another:
Poor communication
There was a poor coordination between individuals. One example was the situation where Waldo and Wolinski took decisions individually without consulting the other members. In fact, the first informed Jeff that he was changing the design while the second one announced that sales had promised to deliver a test order that no one could even describe yet.
Another example was when Jack White, the distributor salesman, replied to Bob Jones, National’s Sales Vice-president, that it was acceptable to extend the deadline one week without actually confirming this possibility with the right competent. These situations resulted in mismanagement of expectations of their client and failure to meet their commitments that could be avoided with the methodology of project management.
Non-uniform priorities
Each sub-department is currently under the effect of myopia because employees look to the objectives, targets or processes of their own functional area while neglecting the success of the project as a whole. The company lacks in terms of practices that could incentivize the alignment of priorities.
“The only way that the project engineer can get these departments to make commitments is through persuasion or through the chief engineer, who could go to the Vice President of manufacturing and engineering. If the engineer is convincing the Vice President will dictate to the appropriate manager what must be done.”
No project manager
The inexistence of an individual enabled with autonomy to both plan the project and monitor its implementation through the several functional areas does not prevent the current delays in deadlines. Additionally, in this specific case, the chief engineer did not have the