The Challenge
"Over budget, overdue, underperforming—stakeholders hard to manage, expectations even harder to meet”
Major Programs are $1B+ initiatives that enable a paradigm shift – i.e. after the delivery of a major program, things are not the same as they were before the program. These initiatives can advance society and bring significant value to people, governments, and organizations. They are usually executed in exceptionally complex environments and fundamentally push the boundaries of organizational management, engineering and technology.
As the number and size of these programs continue to increase, so does the potential cost of failure. The impact of such failures is reported frequently in the news and media. For example, the average overspend on infrastructure programs worldwide is 40%, in the context of circa $4T annual spend.
Researchers have identified several key success factors, and practitioners have developed various best practices. Yet, the failure of delivery continues, as these initiatives are traditionally delivered late, over budget, and undershoot in terms of the promised benefits. In certain instances, major programs have financially crippled entire companies, toppled politicians and leaders, and even bankrupted governments.
*Bent Flyvbjerg – University of Oxford
Major Programs
- High Costs and Scale: Major programs often exceed $1 billion in cost, representing some of the most significant investments in infrastructure, technology, and organizational transformation.
- Long-Term Duration: These programs typically span several years, requiring sustained funding, effort, and commitment from all stakeholders.
- Transformational Objectives: Designed to bring about substantial change, they aim to address critical societal, technological, or economic challenges.
- Complexity Challenges: Their scale and scope involve multiple interdependencies, making them inherently challenging to manage and deliver successfully.
- Frequent Cost Overruns: Infrastructure projects, a key subset of major programs, experience average cost overruns of 40%, translating to over $1.6 trillion globally each year.
- Stagnant Success Rates: Despite the growing number of programs, delivery teams have not improved success rates significantly, often repeating mistakes from past projects.
- Inadequate Learning from Experience: Lessons from previous programs are not effectively captured or applied, perpetuating inefficiencies and errors.
- Global Economic Impact: The financial implications of overruns and inefficiencies are substantial, straining public and private budgets worldwide.
- High-Risk Profile: The complexity, scale, and duration of these programs expose them to significant technical, financial, and operational risks.
- Need for Strategic Transformation: To address inefficiencies and improve outcomes, these programs require better governance, enhanced learning mechanisms, and innovative delivery models.