“Lies, Damned Lies, and Project Plans”: Human Errors that Make a Mockery of Infrastructure Planning

Infrastructure projects have an abysmal and expensive record of failed delivery, often running far over budget and behind schedule, and costing their sponsors billions.

Examples of infrastructure projects include power generation (nuclear and hydroelectric), rail and roadway, Olympic, and information system and data infrastructure. Many of the seeds of failure of these large projects are sown at the outset, through poor planning processes due to a variety of human biases, miscalculations, and willful negligence.

This presentation examines “seven deadly sins” in infrastructure project planning, arguing that these errors are systematic, frequently recognizable, and correctable. The presentation will also discuss some remedial steps that project organizations can take to mitigate the negative effects of the seven deadly sins of infrastructure project planning.