A Dream Interrupted at Boeing

One of the earliest lessons we teach at the Business School is the importance of coordination. For any complex endeavor to be successfully mounted, the interdependencies between the various stages of the project have to be carefully managed.

In our writings on downsizing, my colleagues Hugh Gunz and Michael Jalland, have emphasized that when an activity is outsourced, more managerial time and talent is required to manage the interface than was required when the activity was in-house.

Boeing (A Dream Interrupted at Boeing, New York Times Sunday Business, September 6, 2009: 1,4) seems to have forgotten this important lesson and are now bearing the costs of that failure.


Sent to the New York Times