Choose a failed IT project from this Computerworld article—IT\'s Biggest Project

Question

Choose a failed IT project from this Computerworld article—IT's Biggest Project Failures—And What We Can Learn From Them—or find another example online. You will be using this failed project as an example/case study for several discussions throughout this course, so it should be something that interests you.

Briefly describe the project, and how it failed.
Expound on three ways that an effective scope statement may have helped to avoid failure.

In your write-up, refer to specific elements of a project scope statement: objective, deliverables, milestones, technical requirements, limits and exclusions, and reviews with customer.

Explanation / Answer

IBM's Stretch project

In 1956 a gathering of PC researchers at IBM embarked to construct the world's quickest supercomputer.Five years after the fact they created the IBM 7030 a.k.a.Stretch the organization's initially transistorized supercomputer and conveyed the principal unit to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1961.Capable of taking care of a half-million guidelines for each second Stretch was the speediest PC on the planet and would remain so through 1964.

By and by the 7030 was viewed as a failure.IBM's unique offered to Los Alamos was to build up a PC 100 times quicker than the framework it was intended to supplant and the Stretch came in just 30 to 40 times faster.Because it neglected to meet its objective IBM needed to drop Stretch's cost to $7.8 million from the arranged $13.5 million which implied the framework was evaluated beneath cost.The organization quit offering the 7030 available to be purchased and just nine were ever fabricated.

That wasn't the finish of the story however."A parcel of what went into that exertion was later useful to whatever remains of the business" said Turing Award victor and Stretch colleague Fran Allen at a current occasion denoting the project's 50th anniversary.Stretch presented pipelining memory insurance memory interleaving and different advancements that have molded the improvement of PCs as we probably am aware them.

Lesson learned

Try not to toss the infant out with the bathwater.Even on the off chance that you don't meet your project's fundamental objectives you might have the capacity to rescue something of enduring an incentive from the destruction.

Why it failed

Extend was created delivered and sold available as the quickest super-PC on the planet however it was no place close as quick as proposed.

IBM started the generation procedure hoping to build up a PC that was 100 times speedier than the framework it would supplant however they missed the mark regarding this target.Stretch was just 30-40 times faster.Since it neglected to achieve its objective IBM needed to drop Stretch's cost to $7.8 million (from a proposed $13.5 million) which implied the framework was estimated beneath cost.Only 9 Stretch PCs were ever fabricated and it was in the end removed the market.IBM esteemed Stretch a disappointment.

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