The people and engineering balance [ATC project]

One of the world´s largest and most capable air traffic control (ATC) facilities is currently undergoing operational work-up tests at Swanwick, on the Hampshire coast of the UK. Five years late, the Swanwick Centre joins the swelling international ranks of ATC projects that overshot their delivery date, over-ran their budget or failed to meet the operational need. At the start of the Swanwick project, it was believed that the difficulties others had encountered would be avoided by adopting a systems approach, coupled with a soft skills focus. For five years, reasonable progress was made, but then the project stalled and became severely delayed. The delay has prompted media criticism and government scrutiny, but the problems cannot be simply attributed to technology failure or poor commercial discipline. People issues had a profound impact on the project, and these issues may provide a useful insight for managers and specialists working with large, innovative projects