Lessons from the Oil Spill

Last April 20 the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 crew members. Two days later it sank while oil gushed out of the broken piping below. This was an offshore drilling rig 50 miles south of Louisiana. Three companies were involved: BP, Halliburton, and a company called Transocean. The three companies are blaming the others for the disaster.

As the blame-shirking and the finger-pointing commence, one thing is clear. There was no unity of command, no central management of the project. As the different companies say the others were responsible, it becomes clear that no one was in charge. This was the first management failure.

The second is implied by the two day time lag between the explosion and the leaking. Why was there no immediate response team in place? Why was there no disaster plan? It appears there was no contingency planning done at all?

Unforeseen disasters happen to any project, no matter how small. Proper management structure and contingency planning can contain unforeseen disasters.

More info at The New York Times.