[Me & X] HS2 and project management
X : Were you involved in HS2?
Me : High speed rail?
X : Yes.
Me : No. I had a tiny little influence on one bit which was building the railway in a virtual world. James Findlay who was CIO at that time, sent me some maps and I helped him think about how to manage those. My understanding is that small part of the project succeeded very well - delivering under budget, ahead of schedule - and James even being brought it up at the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) as an example of good. But you'd have to check with James on that.
X : Is this written up anywhere?
Me : Bits are. More recently "Simple tips for managing any project" ... however the work was back in 2012-ish, based upon previous work from 2006-ish.
X : What about the rest of HS2?
Me : No idea. It probably used well tested, traditional forms of project management, with well defined contracts and quality assurance provided by large management consultancy companies ... so ... massively over budget and over schedule.
X : You make it sound inevitable?
Me : It is. Read the post.
Addendum
It seems that the reason for HS2's failure was over ambitious design, planning permission process in the UK, changing political priorities, lack of analysis, infrastructure challenges and Britain's geography.
Apparently, failure was almost inevitable. I'd agree but for different reasons.
The small piece of work that I saw was delivered ahead of budget, ahead of schedule and was really transformative. In my very limited experience of the HS2 project outside of that work, everything pointed to weak executives, poor executive decision making, lack of situational awareness, over reliance on traditional project methodologies and excessive use of those usual large management consultancy firms - over £280 million spent on the "wonderful advice" of the big four, and that's just the start.
The problems seemed more human and organisational failures rather than the structural and systemic failures the BBC points to. I see no reason why HS2 could not be built effectively and economically in the UK, assuming we stop relying on the same chinless wonders with the "right" background to build it. That's a lesson we might want to learn from China where meritocracy isn't just an idea.
BTW, how much did I charge James for the advice that helped him positively transform that one small part of HS2 ... £0. He was a friend.
Originally published on LinkedIn.