Are rail projects a nightmare to deliver? Lessons for successful delivery

[@e5Group]

Mark nailed this,best explanation I've ever seen. As a survivor / veteran of the carnage of Metronet, Thameslink and some Crossrail early days. The wrong leadership across the life of a job is an intriguing and so true issue.

[@billge773]

1. Don't set fixed end date. Talk about the window of Uncertainty 2. System Integration has to be centralised and controlled. Value system integration as a contact spot. 3. Design Modularity is the key. Make sure the design is modular and testable offsite. 4. Making sure the right teams are looking at the right risks with shifting in time (e.g. Aggregated system integration risks ended up being almost 10 times riskier than the delivery of TBM drive through 30m below London.) 5. Most importantly is the human element. The transition from collaboration to something higher --> Owning the whole. Having complete transparency and line of sight.

[@barryscroggins8450]

A lovely follow-up discussion would be "Are Project Controls as typically deployed on megaprojects fit for purpose?". For instance, how useful is it to model iterative development tasks using linear scheduling tools like P6? Or what about maturity of knowledge...tunneling under London used to be a trip into the unknown, but knowledge gained during JLE, CTRL, NLE, TTW along with better TBMs has significantly improved matters to the extent that emergent challenges in digital integration are the more proximate risks - at what point do the imported historical concepts of what is risky get retired? And as Project Directorship style migrates from Sheriff to Physician, what has replaced the machismo confrontation piece - can people really speak their mind, or are the consequences of speaking up or admitting error still ultimately likely to result in career disruption, sidelining, or some other form of 'cancellation'.