Behind Boing, Essay Example

Kerzner traces the evolution of project management best practices primarily through the aerospace industry. What elements of the 777 project (past, present and future) can you see as being part of that evolution?

The problem of having to deal with too many suppliers put the creation of a supposed highly innovative plane in jeopardy. Everybody had high hopes on the creation of the 787 program. This dream liner specifically promised so much for the clients and the operators which made them foresee profits even before the business operations began. However,  because of the manufacturing delay, such dreams and such foreseen success needed to undergo particular adjustments.

The parties [stakeholders] involved in the production and the reception of service from what the plane would be able to accomplish when it has already been completed had to adjust their expectations. Adjusting the condition of production and the connection and contracts that are established to make the chain of operations towards manufacturing the plane more extensive and more efficient becomes a necessary step to take for the management. Realizing that the case involves too many broken chains along the way, rearranging contracts and making expectations more practical on the art of realizing what could actually be done in a given time table became the basis of a new approach to managing the production of the new plane. The problem of over expecting on the manufacturing process made it possible for the management to see things in a more practical vision; something that needs to be considered when the reality of situations is being carried into account.

Using the definitions and descriptions in chapter 1 of Project Management Best Practices, what managerial innovations in the 777 project might qualify as contemporary best practices? Why?

Adjustment of risks; this particular process intends to lessen the risks of a highly critical situation. In the aspect of producing a new plane, the management had to contend with the desire of creating a new transport vessel at the most controlled cost possible. The situation changes when the direction of production becomes divided into several distant suppliers. The risk taken to keep the cost of production at bay caused more problems and more expenses than what production operation ought to create. Hence, adjustments became necessary.

Rethinking the path of supply chain from different part-providers before they are assembled in the main plant caused several delays and readjustment of manufacturing. Seeing the better effects of having lesser contracted suppliers or [in this case] lessening the production expectations from each supplier in a more contracted time table served better results compared to the bulk orders once placed among the suppliers of the plane’s parts.

3)What Boeing best practices might (or might not be) be transferable throughout (a) the organization, (b) the industry, and (c) other industries?

The organization

The best practices in the company that could be transferrable within the organization throughout the years of operation would be that of the company’s capacity and willingness to adjust to situations. Being able to manage through the different issues that the company had to deal with especially on the part of dealing with the demands and disappointments among their stakeholders was a turning of the organization’s management system. Such culture of response to organizational challenges makes the process of management more effective and directive towards company success.

The industry

The industry might as well take a lot from the culture of risk reduction that the management learned to take into account in relation to the case that happened to them. Considerably, making the chain of operations shorter and the goals more realizable in a short period of time would work well for the airplane production industries.

Other industries

Each industry faces a chain-logistics problem every now and then. Being able to seek ways to cut the long chain of operations without jeopardizing the results of business operations intend to strengthen the connection that the businesses share with each other and further develop a sense of direction on how goals are reached within a shorter span of time.

Describe how important it is to consider the entire life cycle of a project in order to achieve overall project success

From the beginning of a project towards its completion, the different phases of procedures taken into account to complete the whole cycle should be given attention to. The alternative resolutions to particular risks and problems that may occur in the middle of the project’s completion should also be clear. Every single detail that makes up a project is an important aspect of concern that administrators should seek to observe; because failure to do so might put the whole chain of operation in trouble because of uncompleted tasks or unreached goals; something that might put the whole project on hold.