The world has witnessed its fair share of project failures in the ever-evolving landscape of innovation and ambition. These grand endeavors, often pursued with the utmost determination, have sometimes crumbled in the face of unforeseen challenges.
Let’s embark on a journey to explore the stories of these failures. From the iconic Sydney Opera House, a modern architectural masterpiece fraught with budget overruns and structural challenges, to the Betamax, Sony’s once-revolutionary but ultimately defeated video format. And then, consider the bold decision by Coca-Cola to change its sacred recipe.
These projects have left an indelible mark in the annals of history. Join us as we delve into the riveting tales of these and more, examining the lessons they impart in the volatile world of innovation, ambition, and, sometimes, spectacular project failure.
1. Sydney Opera House
the Sydney Opera House is one of the icon architecture pieces in the world however it also one of the biggest project failures in history.
In project management there are three significant constraints to any project that need to be considered. They are the triple constraints of time or scheduling, the cost of the project and the scope. The time and cost constraints are self-explanatory, however what is meant by the scope of a project are the deliverables required to make the project come to life. Essentially it provides the vision for the project. What is important to remember is that changes in one constraint will have a ripple effect on one or both of the other constraints.
Unfortunately, in the case of the Sydney Opera House there was no defined scope. No clear deliverables in place led to a massive blow out in both time and cost. In fact the cost of the project ended up being 15 times more than was originally budgeted and took 10 years longer. It serves as one of history’s greatest project failures.
2. Betamax
The Betamax device was an analogue video recording device that was first brought to the United States in 1975. It enjoyed a first to market advantage for around 12 months before the Japanese Company JVC introduced the VHS version. It was the VHS version that began to take the market share due to its cheaper pricing. In fact, by 1980 JVC had 60% market share in the U.S. which enabled economies of scale that allowed VHS units to flood the European market at greatly reduced pricing.
The Betamax project is a great example of a project that didn’t know when to close. In fact it was still producing consoles in 2002 and only stopped making cassettes in 2016. The unwillingness to let go of this product was one of the reasons for Sony losing overall market share to its competitors.
Further Reading| PMBOK Principle 8 -BUILDING QUALITY |
3. New Coke
In an effort to turn around the declining sales of Coca Cola, and a series of blind taste tests indicating that consumers preferred Pepsi, the decision was made to change the coke recipe.
The project was very secret and was code named ‘Project Kansas’. A significant red flag that was ignored during the testing phase was that 10-12% of survey respondents said they would be angry if Coke changed their recipe and that they may stop drinking the brand all together.
It was also the decision by management who didn’t want to release the product as alternative to Coke rather replacing the original all together.
Their was some initial success as consumers wanted to try the new recipe. This was quickly replaced by resentment particularly in the Southern states of the U.S. It was viewed by many in those regional areas as part of their identity and there was a feeling of surrendering to the enemy.
It took just 79 days after the New Coke was introduced for the old recipe to be re-instated. Less than 6 months later the original formula Coke was increasing its sales by more than twice as much as its main competitor Pepsi. In terms of project failures, the change of the Coke recipe served as one its greatest lessons.
Further Reading | Project Quality Management |
4. Delhi Commonwealth Games Bridge Collapse
The XIX Commonwealth Games were to be held in Delhi India in 2010. The lead up to the event saw major concerns from officials and competing countries regarding the slow pace of work. Problems such as corruption from Games Organising Committee officials, infrastructure compromise, the threat of terrorist attack and poor ticket sales. A significant concern were the delays in the construction of the main Games venues.
The response from the Organising Committee six weeks out from the opening of the games was to increase the workforce significantly. This resulted in a huge increase in tasks completed but also with a lack of training mistakes were bound to occur.
The concerns regarding the poor workmanship materialised on September 21, 2010 when a footbridge joining the Athletes village with the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium collapsed injuring 23 people. This provides a classic case study of a project management scheduling strategy called fast tracking. Essentially to get tasks completed quickly the amount of labour is increased significantly. The problem is that quality reduces and disasters like the Delhi Bridge collapse can occur.
Further Reading | How to manage a saboteur in your team |
5. Waterworld
The Water World movie is a post-apocalyptic film starring Kevin Costner and distributed by Universal Pictures.
The most expensive movie ever made at the time, Waterworld is a great case study on how scope creep can impact time and cost on a project.
At the time the film was due to begin a completed script had not been authorised. This gave rise to many re-writes and changes which continued to raise costs and extend the timeline. Universal had initially authorised a budget of $100 million however the final cost of the film was pushed out to $175 million.
Unfortunately the film was not well received at the box office and ticket sales were not enough to recoup expenses.
Further Reading | How to Promote Team Collaboration in Your Organisation |
6. European Super League
In one of the biggest blunders in football administration history twelve of the top European football clubs announced they were breaking away to form a new competition. The competition was announced on April 18, 2021 and was withdrawn just two days later due to a huge outcry from the club’s biggest stakeholders its fans.
One of the immediate concerns from the football community was that in the new league relegation would not take place. This would remove one of the key elements in European leagues. Concerns came from fans, governing bodies and even European government leaders.
The project failed miserably because the owners of the clubs missed a key component of any project – stakeholder consultation. Engaging with the stakeholders early would have prevented the embarrassment that came with this decision and the cringeworthy apologies that came afterwards. Notably it was the German clubs that did not opt in to the new competition and underscores the close relationship they have with their most important stakeholders.
Club owners still have not learned from one of the most significant sporting project failures as rumours of a new model continue to swirl.
Further Reading |What is the difference between a leader and a project manager? |
7. The Delorean DMC-12
Made famous in the Back to the Future movie franchise the Delorean is still an iconic car today.
The Delorean company was in trouble even before the first car rolled off the construction line. After the company was given a great deal to setup their manufacturing plan in Belfast, a Northern Ireland consulting company gave Delorean a 1 in 10 chance of surviving.
Design issues were the first problems to surface with the original rotary being replaced by a Peugeot V6. The larger engine couldn’t fit into the tiny space and significant changes were required.
With an inexperienced factory workforce, increasingly delayed production schedules and a CEO that has been arrested on drug charges the car stopped production after 9,000 units were made. This may seem like a large number however it wasn’t enough to save the company and it was wound up in the early 1980s.
Further Reading |The importance of setting goals |
8. IBM’s Stretch Project
The IBM 7030 which was also known as stretch was the world’s first fully transistorized supercomputer.
At the design stage the thought was to make a computer that was 100-200 times faster than its nearest competitor. Unfortunately the complexity of the project and delays in production meant it was only 30 times faster than its competitors. This was seen as project fail at IBM.
The lessons learned were absorbed into IBM and this project fail helped launch other successful products such as the IBM System/360 which were shipped to customers in 1964.
9 The Dyson Electric Car
A team of around 400 people were working on a very secretive electric car project that was due to be released in 2021. Seen as a possible competitor to Tesla the project was pulled before a unit had even been constructed.
The Dyson company is famous for producing a range of high end good value home appliances. The company is privately owned by James Dyson and he took a different approach to the project development.
Building cars is quite different to building vacuum cleaners and a lot of due diligence is required to move into this completely new challenge. This was lacking and an email to all his staff – numbering in the range of 7,000 were informed then that the project wouldn’t be going ahead.
Although close to getting it mass-produced, the cost of the inputs would have meant a price that made the car commercially unviable. It is understood that James Dyson personally absorbed the cost of the project failure and would continue to work on the battery technology developed through the development phase. This shows that lessons learned from project failures can be incredibly valuable.
Further Reading |PMBOK Principle 9 – NAVIGATING PROJECT COMPLEXITY |
10. London City – Garden Bridge
A design originally submitted by Joanne Lumley from Absolutely Fabulous fame, the Garden bridge was designed to be an elevated garden footbridge crossing the Thames joining Lambeth in the South and Victoria embankment in the North.
The project gained traction when Mayor and later Prime Minister Boris Johnson took some interest in it. However, when Boris Johnson’s successor Sadiq Khan replaced him as Mayor the true nature of the fragile financial foundation funding the bridge became clear.
The project was stopped before even a piling had been driven into the ground. One of the problems with this project was the unclear vision for what the bridge was for. Everyone agreed it would look nice but nice wouldn’t cut it when millions of pounds were at stake.
The lack of clarity of the project meant that stakeholder consultation was minimal and there was no real clear business case or consideration of ongoing maintenance of the bridge.
Before the project was quashed by the Mayor costs were already rising significantly with 1.7 million pounds being paid to a board and also significant website costs.
Another project where due diligence and clarity of scope were missing.
Further Reading | PMBOK Principle 8 -BUILDING QUALITY |
In Summary
In the end, these project failures serve as more than just cautionary tales; they are invaluable sources of insight and wisdom. They remind us that even the most audacious dreams can falter when faced with unexpected challenges. The Sydney Opera House, Betamax, and Coca-Cola’s recipe change all echo the resounding message that innovation carries both the promise of greatness and the potential for missteps.
As we conclude our exploration of these project failures, we’re left with a profound appreciation for the resilience of the human spirit. We learn from these setbacks, adapt, and move forward, ever more determined to push the boundaries of what is possible. In the world of projects and initiatives, project failures, though stunning, are stepping stones to future success.
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