Need help choosing a project to research for class!

[samclem]

Yes you are correct, and either would be a good research subject on complex project management. The goal, for Amethyst, is to explain how the projects went bad and what mitigating actions the project manager could have undertaken.

The Challenger project, unfortunately was plagued by bad politics from the beginning.

-- Rita

The Shuttle program in general would be a good case study. The reusable vehicle was supposed to drastically reduce the cost of puting things into orbit, but something (or things) went far different than planned. I've seen cost comparisons showing the price per pound to orbit being far less for expendables. Another article I read indicated an evolution of the Saturn 5 would have been much cheaper than the Shuttle for manned launches.
It would be a big project to research all this, (incorrect assumptions or changed situations that led to the higher STS costs, etc) and, since we didn't go with a large expendable rocket, we'll never know if what the cost of the "mega expendables" would have been.

Study of a single construction project would be more well-bounded and simpler to tackle in a research project.

 

[Khan]

The construction of the Sydney Australia Opera House.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I thought of some Boeing problems right away.

Corvair? Pinto? Edsel? Should be some useful material about them.

Or that exterior stucco stuff that ended up causing mold problems?
http://www.propex.com/C_f_env_EIFS_pbm.htm

 

[Rustward]

Gotadimple, wasn't the Challenger disaster the result of bad o-rings coupled with cold temps? The Columbia disaster was due to damage to the left wing from debris off the solid rocket fuel booster. I really loved the NASA adventures and can remember exactly where I was when the Challenger exploded. Also, the Columbia.

I believe Columbia's wing was damaged by foam insulation that fell from the external fuel tank, not the SRBs. Minor detail.

 

[Khan]

I thought of some Boeing problems right away.

Corvair? Pinto? Edsel? Should be some useful material about them.

Or that exterior stucco stuff that ended up causing mold problems?

Polybutylene plumbing?

Orangeburg pipe?

 

[Bestwifeever]

Here's another idea that should have tons of documentation available and could be interesting as it's relevant to today's swine flu pandemic--the 2004 efforts by Illinois's then-governor Blagojevich (now indicted on other charges) to buy bird flu vaccines from other countries, which were never approved by the FDA, expired in storage, and cost millions of dollars: "Blagojevich aides pushed a plan to illegally import millions of dollars worth of flu vaccine in 2004 even after they realized the vaccine would never arrive and after state health officials told thegovernor’s office that federal officials had found vaccine for Illinois." Audit slams state drug plan<br> But Blagojevich plans expansion - Chicago Tribune