SE 430: Software Project Management

Case Study 04: DNA Sequencing Biotech Project

Nick Carson recently became project manager of a critical biotech enterprise at his Silicon Valle
Company. This project involved creating the hardware and software for a DNA-sequencing
instrument used in assembling and analyzing the human genome. The biotech project was the
company’s largest endeavor, and it had tremendous potential for future growth and revenues.
Unfortunately, there were problems managing this large project. It had been under way for three
years and had already gone through three different project managers.
Nick had been the lead software developer on the project before top management made him the
project manager. The CEO told him to do whatever it took to deliver the first version of the DNA-
sequencing software in four months and a production version in nine months. Negotiations for a
potential corporate buyout with a larger company influenced top management’s sense of
urgency to complete the project.
Highly energetic and intelligent, Nick had the technical background to make the project a success.
He delved into the technical problems and found some critical flaws that kept the DNA-sequencing
instrument from working. Nevertheless, he was having difficulty in his new role as project manager.
Although Nick and his team got the product out on time, top management was upset because Nick
did not focus on managing all aspects of the project. He never provided them with accurate
schedules or detailed plans of what was happening on the project.
Instead of performing the work of project manager, Nick had taken on the role of software
integrator and trouble-shooter. Nick, however, did not understand top management’s complaints—
he delivered the product, didn’t he? Didn’t they realize how valuable he was?

What went wrong?

What happens when a project manager does not communicate well with all stakeholders?
• Nick Carson seemed to ignore a key stakeholder for the DNA-sequencing instrument
project—his top management. Nick was comfortable working with other members of the project
team, but he was not familiar with his new job as project manager or the needs of the company’s
top management. Nick continued to do his old job of software developer and took on the added
role of software integrator.
• He mistakenly thought project integration management meant software integration
management and focused on the project’s technical problems. He totally ignored what project
integration management is really about—integrating the work of all of the people involved in the
project by focusing on good communication and relationship management.
• Recall that project management is applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to
meet project requirements, while also meeting or exceeding stakeholder needs and expectations.
Nick did not take the time to find out what top management expected from him as the project
manager; he assumed that completing the project on time and within budget was sufficient to
make them happy. Yes, top management should have made its expectations more clear, but Nick
should have taken the initiative to get the guidance he needed.
• In addition to not understanding project integration management, Nick did not use holistic
or systems thinking (Week 2 lectures and case study). He burrowed into the technical details of
his particular project. He did not stop to think about what it meant to be the project manager, how
this project related to other projects in the organization, or top management’s expectations of him
and his team.
 • Project integration management must occur within the context of the entire
organization, not just within a particular project. The project manager must integrate the work
of the project with the ongoing operations of the organization. Nick’s company was negotiating
a potential buyout with a larger company. Consequently, top management needed to know
when the DNA-sequencing instrument would be ready, how big the market was for the product,
and if the company had enough in-house staff to continue to manage projects like this one in
the future. Top management wanted to see a project management plan and a schedule to help
monitor the project’s progress and show the potential buyer what was happening. When top
managers tried to talk to Nick about these issues, he soon returned to discussing the technical
details of the project.
• Even though Nick was very bright, he had no experience or real interest in many of
the company’s business aspects. Project managers must always view their projects in the
context of the changing needs of their organizations and respond to requests from top
management. Likewise, top management must keep project managers informed of major
issues that could affect their projects and strive to make processes consistent throughout their
organization.

Point to ponder

Good project integration management is critical to providing stakeholder satisfaction. Project

What Went Wrong? – Another Example

The Airbus A380 megajet project was two years behind schedule in October 2006, causing
Airbus’ parent company to face an expected loss of $6.1 billion over the next four years.
Why? -- The project suffered from severe integration management problems, or “integration
disintegration -- When pre-assembled bundles containing hundreds of miles of cabin wiring
were delivered from a German factory to the assembly line in France, workers discovered that
the bundles, called harnesses, didn’t fit properly into the plane. Assembly slowed to a near-
standstill, as workers tried to pull the bundles apart and re-thread them through the fuselage.
Now Airbus will have to go back to the drawing board and redesign the wiring system.”

Why it went wrong?

How did this lack of integration occur? At the end of 2000, just as Airbus was giving the go-
ahead to the A380 project, the company announced that it was completing the process of
transforming itself into an integrated corporation. Since its founding in 1970, Airbus had
operated as a loose consortium of aerospace companies in several countries, including France,
Germany, Britain, and Spain. The company wanted to integrate all of its operations into one
cohesive business. Unfortunately, that integration was much easier said than done and caused
major problems on the A380 project. For example, the Toulouse assembly plant used the latest
version of a sophisticated design software tool called CATIA, but the design center at the
Hamburg factory used an earlier version—a completely different system dating from the 1980s.
As a result, design specifications could not flow easily back and forth between the two systems.
Airbus’s top managers should have made it a priority to have all sites use the latest software,
but they didn’t, resulting in a project disaster.