Denver Airport Bag System Case Study
If the project was to be done again, there were various things that the project management team could do to better position the project for success.
Better estimation of project complexity
In order to meet the airport’s planned opening date, the project needed to be completed in just two years. The underestimation of complexity led to a corresponding underestimation of the effort involved. There are several approaches that the project management team should have taken to make better estimation.
• The project management team should have used several people to estimate the time, costs and resources required for the project. Discussion of the individual differences in their estimate tends to eliminate extreme estimate errors. Reports indicate that several managers advised the BAE Senior Management team that the project was at minimum a four year project, not a two year project. If these voices could be risen up and better discussed, the project would have been treated differently.
• ¬The project management team should refer to prior experience of similar projects. Experts from Munich airport advised that the much simpler Munich system had taken 2 full years to build and 6 months to test. Since no one has experience of a system of this scale, investigation should have been carried out in depth on similar projects.
Better risk management
Risk management should be designed to ensure that surprises are reduced and that negative consequences associated with undesirable events are minimized.
• The availability of a contingency plan can significantly increase the chances for project success. Conditions for activating the implementation of the contingency plan should be decided and clearly documented.
• It is undeniably a high risk task. Risk should be scheduled by using the best people to relieve or lessen the chance of some risk events occurring. The replacement manager of Mr. Slinger retained his/her prior responsibilities and hence was stretched to the limit.
Better estimation of project complexity
In order to meet the airport’s planned opening date, the project needed to be completed in just two years. The underestimation of complexity led to a corresponding underestimation of the effort involved. There are several approaches that the project management team should have taken to make better estimation.
• The project management team should have used several people to estimate the time, costs and resources required for the project. Discussion of the individual differences in their estimate tends to eliminate extreme estimate errors. Reports indicate that several managers advised the BAE Senior Management team that the project was at minimum a four year project, not a two year project. If these voices could be risen up and better discussed, the project would have been treated differently.
• ¬The project management team should refer to prior experience of similar projects. Experts from Munich airport advised that the much simpler Munich system had taken 2 full years to build and 6 months to test. Since no one has experience of a system of this scale, investigation should have been carried out in depth on similar projects.
Better risk management
Risk management should be designed to ensure that surprises are reduced and that negative consequences associated with undesirable events are minimized.
• The availability of a contingency plan can significantly increase the chances for project success. Conditions for activating the implementation of the contingency plan should be decided and clearly documented.
• It is undeniably a high risk task. Risk should be scheduled by using the best people to relieve or lessen the chance of some risk events occurring. The replacement manager of Mr. Slinger retained his/her prior responsibilities and hence was stretched to the limit.