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1、 2023 Boston Consulting Group1We can lick gravity,but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.Wernher von Braun,the“Father of Rocket Science,”Director of NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center,and Chief Architect of the Saturn V rocketWhat Superprojects Teach Us AboutCorporate ChangeAPRIL 11,2023 By Mar

2、tin Reeves,Arthur Boulenger,and Adam JobREADING TIME:15 MIN 2023 Boston Consulting Group2The business world is evolving at an increasingly rapid pace and in unpredictable waysdriven bytechnological change and social uncertainty unfolding across multiple timescales.Standing still is notan option for

3、organizations,and constant change must be the new norm.But organizational change is hard:our research has shown that roughly 75%of corporatetransformation programs fail in terms of value generated.This propensity for failure also applies toother types of change efforts.In his recent book How Big Thi

4、ngs Get Done,coauthor Bent Flyvbjergstudies a database of 16,000 large projects and observes that only 0.5%were on budget,on time,anddelivered the desired benefits.“Average practice is disaster,best practice an outlier,”he concludes.There is no single reason for failure,nor any framework,that explai

5、ns this poor performance.A meta-analysis of the academic literature on large projects identifies as many as 18 major causes of failureand 54 potential remedies,concluding that“no single concept or frameworkcan account for themultiple and varied causes and cures of poor performance.”Yet humanity has

6、demonstrated,on multiple occasions,an aptitude for defying these odds in the faceof major,unprecedented challenges.What is the secret of these“superprojects,”and what lessons dothey offer for corporate decision makers on how to make change work?In this article,we attempt todistill the lessons from t

7、wo iconic examples:NASAs Apollo program and Pfizers Lightspeed project.The Paradox of Ingenuity and ControlThe superprojects we focus on are both moonshots,one actual and one metaphorical.The Apolloprogram put humans on the moon for the first time and brought them safely back to Earth.Lightspeedwas

8、Pfizers initiative to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in nine months(one-tenth of theusual time for vaccine development)and subsequently deliver it to billions of people around the globea story told by Pfizers CEO,Dr.Albert Bourla,in his book Moonshot:Inside Pfizers Nine-Month Raceto M

9、ake the Impossible Possible,which he discussed with us in a Thinkers&Ideas podcast.These superprojects are now regarded as outstanding accomplishments,but theirsuccess was anything but assured.NASAs Apollo Program On May 25,1961,President John F.Kennedy announced before a joint session of theUS Cong

10、ress that“this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal,before this1TWO MOONSHOTS 2023 Boston Consulting Group3decade is out,of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”The goal was achieved in July 1969,when Commander Neil Armstrong and LunarModule Eagle pilot Buzz

11、Aldrin set foot on the moonwhile pilot Michael Collins flewthe Command Module in lunar orbitand the full Apollo 11 crew returned safely backto Earth a few days later.The scale and scope of Apollo was extreme:The program would,at its peak,employ300,000 individuals and involve more than 20,000 contrac

12、tors,as well as about 200universities and 80 nations.2 The estimated cost of the program was about$25 billion,equivalent to more than$250 billion today.3 In 1965 and 1966,NASA received close to5%of the US federal budget(in contrast,it receives about 0.5%today).There was also significant uncertainty,

13、not only technicallyspace was still a largelyuncharted territory for sciencebut also politically.The agency was under specialoversight from Congress,which determined NASAs budget on a yearly basis;NASA didnot manage to secure the full program funding at once and had to rejustify itselfcontinuously.A

14、dditionally,many scientists opposed Apollo,supposing that it pulledgovernment money away from more promising and relevant research.4 Many expected the program to fail.Budget estimates from 1963 projected a costupward of$40 billion,twice the original budget set in 1961.George E.Mueller,associate admi

15、nistrator for the Office of Manned Space Flight,wrote in his diary inSeptember 1963:“Without much improved managementwe will not achieve thelunar goal prior to 1972-1975.”5 Pfizers Project Lightspeed On December 31,2019,Chinese authorities alerted the World Health Organization toan unknown virus cau

16、sing a pneumonia-like illness in some inhabitants of the city ofWuhan.About two and half months later,the WHO characterized COVID-19 as apandemic.And less than a year later,on December 8,2020,the first Pfizer-BioNTechvaccine shot was given to a 90-year-old woman in the UK.By the end of 2021,Pfizerha

17、d manufactured more than 3 billion doses and was able to deliver more than 2.6billion of these to 166 countries and territories in every region of the world.2023 Boston Consulting Group4The race to develop the vaccine started on March 17,2020,when Pfizer and BioNTechannounced a partnership that woul

18、d use BioNTechs novel mRNA technology.Over thenext months,Pfizer successfully conducted the most ambitious vaccine developmentprogram in history:the company managed to cut the typical time to launch a vaccinefrom more than ten years to just under one,using an unproven technology(mRNA),afeat that man

19、y of Pfizers own employees and outside experts considered impossible.In April 2020,Dr.Paul A.Offit,infectious diseases specialist and coinventor of therotavirus vaccine,told CNN:“When Dr.Fauci said 12 to 18 months,I thought that wasridiculously optimistic.And Im sure he did,too.”2.Robert C.Seamans J

20、r.and Frederick I.Ordway,“The Apollo Tradition:An Object Lesson forthe Management of Large-Scale Technological Endeavors,Interdisciplinary,”Science Reviewsvol.2 no.4(1977).3.Casey Dreier,“An Improved Cost Analysis of the Apollo Program,”Space Policy vol.60(2022).4.Arthur L.Slotkin,Doing the Impossib

21、le:George E.Mueller and the Management ofNASAs Human Spaceflight Program(Springer,2012).5.Ibid.Apollo and Lightspeed are both remarkable success stories.They achieved ambitious goals onschedulewhich differentiates them not only from other complex projects,but also from mostcorporate change efforts.A

22、 deeper look at the two superprojects reveals commonalities in the keychallenges they had to address to achieve this feat.Both NASA and Pfizer pursued unprecedented goals,for which there was no known recipe for success.As a result,both projects had to be ingenious to find new and creative approaches

23、whether to designthe worlds most powerful rocket or to massively accelerate the vaccine testing process.At the sametime,both Apollo and Lightspeed were extraordinarily large and complex undertakings,which requiredthe coordination of multidisciplinary teams across multiple organizations.Both projects

24、 also posedpotential risk to human lifewhether to the astronauts manning the spacecra or to those receivingthe vaccine(or those not receiving it).As a result,NASA and Pfizer had to ensure they stayed in control,both of the execution and of the safety and reliability of the final product.On the surfa

25、ce,ingenuity and control are contradictory notions that typically involve very differentmanagerial approaches.On the one hand,organizations usually stimulate ingenuity by allowing a highlevel of autonomy and using an agile,trial-and-error approachall of which entail relinquishing somecontrol.On the

26、other hand,firms try to exert control by leveraging well-established project 2023 Boston Consulting Group5management practices,such as precise timelines,milestones and budgets,tight role descriptions,andclear performance metricsnone of which are necessarily conducive to creativity.So how could NASA

27、and Pfizer foster ingenuity and achieve control simultaneously?To succeed,theyhad to resolve several tensions between these seemingly opposed notions.Any project aiming to beatthe odds should do the same:How to Manage the Tensions Between Ingenuity andControlHere are six practices from superprojects

28、 to break the compromise.Pursue a Heroic GoalDefining a heroic goal serves a dual function.For one,it is deliberately challenging,existing at orbeyond the frontier of current knowledge and capabilities.It must be achievable,but not with currentrecipes for success.In this way,it serves to force ingen

29、uity by demanding that the status quo bechallenged and reinventedencouraging participants to break out of existing mental models andengage in counterfactual thinking.At the same time,the goal must function as a north star,guidingteams when plans and processes are unclear or rapidly evolvingthereby e

30、nhancing control.A heroic goal must be more than just technically ambitious.It must be framed in a way that inspiresemployees to be creative and committed and to aim for excellence.This can be achieved by anchoringit in a broader purposeful story that will motivate action.In other words,the“what”of

31、the goal mustbe linked to the“why.”The Lightspeed project had the heroic goal of helping humanity in its fight against COVID-19.At Pfizer,Dr.Bourla told his teams that“civilization,the way we knew it,was in dangerthis is not aboutbusiness;this is about saving the world.”The project must(re)invent th

32、e path to success,breaking with established mental models andprocessesbut also ensure that all stakeholders are aligned in pursuit of a shared goal.The project must allow risk taking and experimentationbut without unduly endangering thesuccess of the plan or the safety of the product.The project mus

33、t foster alignment and coordinationbut not allow the administrative machineryto impede agility or ingenuity.The project must enable rapid,effective,and streamlined decision making to support quicklearning cyclesbut ensure that the system for doing so does not become an obstacle throughcomplexity or

34、politicization.2023 Boston Consulting Group6He was aware that the task he set before them appeared impossible.“I didnt ask people to do whatthey were doing in eight years,”he writes in Moonshot.“I asked them to do it in eight months.I didntask them to make 300 million doses.I asked them to make 3 bi

35、llion doses.”“I didnt ask people to do what they were doing in eight years.I asked them to do it ineight months.”Dr.Albert Bourla,Pfizers CEO“We debated for a while why this could not be done from their perspective.Rationally,they were right.It could not be done.But it had to be done.I asked them to

36、 go back and rethink everything from thebeginning and make the impossible possible.”This was key to motivating Pfizers employees toreinvent the vaccine development and distribution processes.Additionally,Pfizers heroic goal helped galvanize the organization and guide the teams even in themost challe

37、nging timesand thus provided a noncoercive and not overly precise means of attainingalignment and control.Patrick McEvoy,a senior director of operations and engineering at Pfizer,explains how the goal helped the teams stay focused.“We knew people were dying every day,and ourleadership reminded us of

38、 that every day,”he says.“Time was not on our side,and our mission wascritical.Every day mattered and every patient mattered,and we knew we needed to focus on that.Thatnever wavered.”The Apollo program was similarly unprecedented,with the heroic aspects reinforced by PresidentKennedys assassination

39、in 1963 and the space race with the USSR.The ambition to reach the moonwas in itself a challenge to the ingenuity of engineers and scientists.In a famous speech at RiceUniversity in 1962,Kennedy explained:“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the otherthings,not because they are easy,bu

40、t because they are hard.”Establish an Evolvable PlanA preset,unchanging plan describing the path to the destination and resources required is useful onlyfor predictable tasks in a predictable environment.In the face of changing circumstances or evolvingknowledge resulting from research and experimen

41、tation,a plan must be evolvable,allowing for orderlyadaptation by providing a framework for making changes in a structured and controlled manner.Evolvability can be achieved by following an iterative planning processwith each stage building onknowledge gained from the previous ones.Changes to the pl

42、an should be decided in a regular review2 2023 Boston Consulting Group7process,with updates circulated rapidly,allowing the prompt execution of lessons learned.Finally,theplan will be more tolerant to changes if it can be broken into smaller elements or modules that areonly loosely interdependent an

43、d can therefore be adjusted individually.An evolvable plan serves the dual function of allowing ingenuity by tolerating changes and providingopportunity for experimentation,feedback,and learning,while creating control by establishing a seriesof known,current versions of the execution plan.Project Li

44、ghtspeed provides insights into how to achieve this.In April 2020,the research team hadalready developed an aggressive vaccine development plan.Yet Pfizer recognized the need for furtheradaptation.This was enabled by biweekly meetings involving all relevant internal stakeholders,led byDr.Bourla.Adju

45、stments were made frequently and to multiple elements of the plan.For example,themanufacturing process and supply chain needed constant recalibration to account for monthlychanges in rate-limiting steps.John Ludwig,a pharmacist leading Pfizers medicinal services,told histeams:“If the plan wasnt chan

46、ging daily,we probably were not doing all we could to end thepandemic.”For the Apollo project,broad program objectives served as a foundation,but detailedplanning remained flexible,with each stage building on the previous one.Adaptive planning also played a crucial role at NASA.The scope of work was

47、 extreme and complex,and the organization highly decentralized,which exacerbated the need to control resources andidentify the work to be done.When President Kennedy announced the lunar landing goal,initial planshad already identified 10,000 work packages.But the agency knew that it could not establ

48、ish a rigid plan and expect that it would unfold smoothly.“The name of the game at NASA is uncertainty,”administrator James Webb oen said.To achievedisciplined yet flexible planning,NASA used a phased approach:broad program objectives served as afoundation,but detailed planning remained flexible,wit

49、h each stage building on the previous one.Apollos flight-test program evolved through an iterative process to take advantage of knowledge aboutprior operations and hardware availability.For example,failures in the Apollo 6 uncrewed flighttriggered an extensive ground-test program,which resulted in m

50、ajor plan adjustments.Embrace Optionality78910 2023 Boston Consulting Group8Optionality in project design and execution mitigates project risks,providing a form of insuranceagainst uncertainty by expanding the range of available courses of action.In turn,this reduces theneed for exerting excessive c

51、ontrol over all activities,enabling teams to experiment morebecausethe project does not quickly become locked into an irreversible path.Optionality comes at the cost ofefficiency,at least in the short term.However,for tough challenges this is more than compensated forby the ingenuity and innovation

52、it unlocks and its impact on the probability of overall success.Optionality can be enhanced by fostering diversity(of backgrounds or experiences)in the project team,enabling them to generate different perspectives and solutions.Decisions can sometimes bepurposefully delayed until more information is

53、 available,allowing leaders to avoid making irreversiblecommitments too early.Additionally,building in redundancy,for example in stocks or manufacturingcapabilities,helps to broaden the scope of choices available to the organization.Optionality was instrumental in the success of the Lightspeed proje

54、ct,which had to cope with extremeuncertainty at all stages of vaccine development and distribution.For example,it was impossible topredict which vaccine candidate would be selected before testing,whether suppliers would haveenough raw materials to satisfy production requirements,or how many factorie

55、s should run.The costof making a wrong and irreversible decision could be dramaticfor example,if production lines werefinely tuned for a specific candidate that was not ultimately selected.Pfizer pursued different paths that would work in multiple future states,from thechoice of vaccine technology t

56、o the production and distribution process.Pfizer solved this problem by pursuing different paths that would work in multiple future states,fromthe choice of vaccine technology to the production and distribution process.For example,the firminitially developed four vaccine candidates to maximize the l

57、ikelihood of success,each representing aunique mRNA format and target antigen combination;different dose ranges were also explored.Pfizeralso decided to use mRNA in part because it is more flexible than traditional vaccine technology,inherently providing optionality.“This flexibility includes the ab

58、ility to alter the RNA sequence in thevaccine to potentially address new strains of the virus,if one were to emerge that is not well covered bythe current vaccine,”Dr.Bourla writes in Moonshot.And while the labs were preparing the vaccine candidates for the test studies,the manufacturing teaminitiat

59、ed the scaling of the production process even before knowing which vaccine would be selected.2023 Boston Consulting Group9They prepared factories for the four different formulations,according to Dr.Bourla,and each requiredits own approach.This parallelism between research and manufacturingtypically

60、done sequentiallyallowed Pfizer to save considerable time.Similarly,NASA enhanced optionality to mitigate risk and improve astronauts safety.The agencyduplicated programs,facilities,and tasks;it also embedded redundancy in rocket systems to increasetheir resilience.A key principle of NASA spacecra d

61、esign was to“build it simple and then double up on manycomponents or systems so that if one fails the other will take over.”For example,engineers designedeach stage of the Saturn rocket with clusters of engines.Another striking instance of redundancy wasSaturn Vs control system,which used a voting p

62、rocess:crucial operations were computed andcontrolled in parallel in three identical circuits;if results differed,the computer would accept themajority vote.Focus on SimplicityThe intrinsic complexity of a project is more easily managed if the machinery for administering it iskept as simple as possi

63、ble.This may involve enhancing the clarity of processes and rules,providingincentives for cooperation and reciprocity,and regularly reviewing and pruning complexity in structuresor processes.Project Lightspeed managed complexity by streamlining processes such as the clinical trial process,which usua

64、lly takes many years to complete.For example,Pfizers researchers combined second andthird stage trials and used digital tools to identify potential study participants quickly,according toMoonshot,reducing the need for in-person visits.Pfizer also worked iteratively with regulators,initially filing i

65、ncomplete testing plans(completed as databecame available),which simplified the vaccine approval process.The firm also notably refused toaccept government funding“to liberate our scientists from bureaucracy and protect them fromunnecessary slowdowns,”as Dr.Bourla wrote in Harvard Business Review.NAS

66、A took active steps to avoid bureaucracy getting in the way of innovation andexecution.11 2023 Boston Consulting Group10While NASA also embraced simplicity,referring to the agency as a simple organization would bemisleading.NASA was,aer all,a governmental entity operating with a remarkably decentral

67、izedstructurethe combination of these two elements,coupled with the unparalleled intrinsic complexityof the project,warranted a more complex organization.Nevertheless,the agency took active steps to avoid bureaucracy getting in the way of innovation andexecution.NASA incentivized collaboration and i

68、mproved communication among centers(and withHQ)by encouraging reciprocity,for example mirroring functions at headquarters,centers,andsuppliers,or by using overlapping responsibilities among teams.Many agency practices workedthrough informal unwritten understandingstolerated and encouraged by the lea

69、dership.NASAalso streamlined overly complex processes.For example,it was authorized by Congress and theBureau of Budget to award major R&D contracts without competitive bidding,significantly reducingcomplexity.Mobilize ExternallyOrganizations need to look beyond their own boundaries and actively man

70、age their stakeholders.Bybeing more active,firms can avoid misalignment and poor communication that could otherwiseimpede project success.They can also tap into diverse ideas and expertise,helping to innovate andenhancing optionality.Finally,they can reduce internal complexity by outsourcing some ac

71、tivities in amodular manner.To achieve effective external mobilization,firms should be willing to rely on external partners andfoster trust-based cooperation.They should also adopt a proactive approach towards facilitatingcooperation,which typically involves creating common standards and platforms f

72、or seamlessinteraction or flexible market-based mechanisms rather than tightly scripted plans.Sometimes,theyalso need to play the political game in order to remove potential obstacles.Pfizer worked hand in hand with regulators to get the vaccine approved promptly andensure its speedy deployment.Pfiz

73、ers Lightspeed project took active steps to mobilize and collaborate with stakeholders.The firmworked hand in hand with regulators(most notably the US Food and Drug Administration and theEuropean Medicines Agency)to get the vaccine approved promptly and ensure its speedy deployment.1213 2023 Boston

74、Consulting Group11Creative solutions were implemented to optimize interactions with health authorities,for example theestablishment of rolling submissions,as mentioned above.But the core of this success story is the firms collaboration with other corporate players in the pharmaecosystem,particularly

75、 BioNTech.The partnership between the two firms was based on trust ratherthan complex contracts and protocols.A letter of intent and an informal agreement between the CEOssupported by the firms experience working togetherwere sufficient for the work to begin.“Albert,your word is enough for me,”said

76、Uur ahin,CEO of BioNTech.Additionally,Pfizer interacted with the public at large,fighting vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.Dr.Bourla wrote a joint memo with other pharma CEOs to highlight their commitment to science andpromise to follow safe processes independent of any external pressure.Dr.Bour

77、la writes in Moonshotthat“being more open,more transparent,was the right decision,and it will continue to be our policy.”The proactive mobilization of stakeholders also played a key role in the success of Project Apollo.Mostimportantly,NASA had to gain the support of the White House and Congressall-

78、powerful projectsponsors.The agency managed these relationships through program planning and budget hearings,and by special briefings at NASA facilities and at contractor installations.The agencys leadership,particularly Webb,“politicked,coaxed,cajoled,and maneuvered for NASA in Washington.”Furtherm

79、ore,contractors played a vital role:more than 90%of the budget earmarked for space flightwas spent under contract.As a result,aligning with and monitoring contractors was a priority.Asdeputy administrator Dr.Robert Seamans pointed out,“all possible steps were taken so thatnoorganizational elements o

80、f any kind ever got isolated from the mainstream of events.NASA wanted toensure that problems or difficulties cropping up anywhere in the NASA-contractor system were notignored or glossed over.”NASA implemented various initiatives to maximize coordination withcontractorsfor example,by forming the“Ap

81、ollo Executives Group,”composed of associateadministrator Mueller and the CEOs of Apollo contractors.Set a DrumbeatFinally,a project needs a process that sets the pace of the work and ensures responsive,resolute,andtransparent decision making.We call this the drumbeat function,since its regularity a

82、nd prominencekeep the organization moving forward in a synchronized fashion.It allows the project to stay on track,ensuring that necessary decisions are made,and that all relevant parties are coordinated and aligned.Moreover,it fosters ingenuity by initiating and closing fast learning cycles.In prac

83、tical terms,a drumbeat function involves regular meetings with all key functions of theorganizationto be able to rapidly resolve any issues arising by making decisions on the spot.In the case of Lightspeed,Dr.Bourla,the CEO,acted as the project manager and had the authority tomake key decisions.This

84、 helped to“knock down silos,hear everyone out,and quickly move things14151617 2023 Boston Consulting Group12forward,”he writes in Moonshot.He suggested that this was crucial“for a project like Lightspeed,which faced greater levels of complexity than ever before but still needed to reach decisions ev

85、enfaster than ever.”To solve this,he organized biweekly meetings with all relevant internal stakeholders,irrespective of hierarchy.These meetings did not have preset agendas;the purpose was to enableemployees to secure the resources and rapid decisions needed and foster fast learning cycles.All proj

86、ect participants could feel the drumbeat.“From CEO Albert Bourla through the organization,the message was clear,the direction was clear,the priorities were clear,and the decision making wasreally streamlined,”emphasizes Pfizers McEvoy.Management requires“fusing at many levels a large number of force

87、s,somecountervailing,into a cohesive but essentially unstable whole and keeping it in adesired direction.”James Webb,Apollo Program AdministratorNASA leadership also created a drumbeat for Apollo:Webb,the projects administrator,fostered quickaction by relying on the rapid generation of management in

88、formation,and by bringing as manyrelevant constituencies as possible into decision making.He suggested that the process ofmanagement was that of“fusing at many levels a large number of forces,some countervailing,into acohesive but essentially unstable whole and keeping it in a desired direction.”Var

89、ious committees and boards embodied this role.For example,all major hardware changes weremanaged through a Configuration Control Board.The Board met 90 times between June 1967 and July1969 and considered more than 1,500 changes.This board was established not only to control changes,but,more importan

90、tly,to serve as a decision-making forum,combining the inputs of multidisciplinaryteams.What Change Leaders Can Learn from SuperprojectsThe six practices described above allowed Pfizer and NASA to resolve the tensions between ingenuityand control and deliver on their unprecedented goals.And although

91、not every project has thedimensions of a superproject,we argue that these lessons are also relevant for more typical changeprojectsand can help you make corporate change work.1819 2023 Boston Consulting Group13Even in regular change projects,organizations oen need to accomplish tasks for which there

92、 is noknown recipefor example,implementing novel technologies or navigating unknown environmentswith their performance and market position at stake.Moreover,corporate projects will always requirethe coordination of many stakeholders,the management of inertia and navigation of bureaucracy,andlast,but

93、 not leastensuring that business as usual can proceed in parallel,unhindered.In otherwords,most change projects need some level of both ingenuity and control.However,in our experience,organizations tend to neglect or downplay the ingenuity component inchange initiatives.Leaders oen prefer instead a

94、simpler,mechanistic view of the world,whichassumes they can easily specify and control actions using project management techniques.Moreover,organizations are oen averse to change.Ideas like“breaking the rules”or“reinventing theorganization”are less accepted in typical projectsand a departure from th

95、e norm will oen bediscouraged and deemed risky or inefficient.Finally,its easy to underestimate organizationalcomplexity and the need for simplification.As a result,organizations fall under the illusion that well-established and codified project managementmethods will suffice.But this approach poses

96、 the risk of excluding experimentation,fast learning,adaptation,and innovationultimately potentially leading to project failure.Ironically,fostering ingenuity may,in some ways,be easier in the context of ambitious superprojectsthan in typical corporate transformations.When the goal and context are u

97、nprecedented,beingunreasonable is expectednobody believed you could put a person on the moon without challengingexisting thinking,or,as Dr.Bourla put it in Moonshot:“to achieve the Lightspeed project,it was clearthat incremental improvements would not move the needle.We needed to completely rethink

98、the waywe operated.”How to Apply the Practices of Superprojects toCorporate ChangeWe recommend that the next time you set up a new change project or review your existing projectportfolio,you ask yourself the following questions:Heroic Goal.Are we certain that following our existing approach will gua

99、rantee that we reach ouraims effectively?Is the goal of the project embedded in a purposeful and inspiring narrative towhich employees can personally commit?Do our teams feel empowered to reinvent our recipe forsuccess when they encounter a roadblock or spot potential for improvement?If not,your pro

100、jectcould benefit from a heroic goal that motivates members of the organization to break with theirexisting mental models and procedureswhile also enhancing alignment and coordination byproviding a new north star.2023 Boston Consulting Group14We live in an era of constant and ever-accelerating chang

101、ewhich,in the corporate context,isdigested through organizational change projects.While change is a constant necessity,achieving it isdifficult.Our review of the Apollo and Lightspeed projects suggests a key unlock:accept that you needboth ingenuity and control,and identify ways for them to coexist

102、harmoniously.The BCG Henderson Institute is Boston Consulting Groups strategy think tank,dedicated to exploringand developing valuable new insights from business,technology,and science by embracing thepowerful technology of ideas.The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion andexperimenta

103、tion to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovativeideas from within and beyond business.For more ideas and inspiration from the Institute,please visitour website and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.Evolvable Plan.Is it sufficient to have an unchanging plan th

104、at locks in precise milestones,roles,and resource allocation in advance?Are we confident that we will face a relatively staticenvironment and will not frequently discover new information that might necessitate changing ourplans?If not,implement a planning process that tolerates uncertainty and chang

105、efor example,by following an iterative approach and making the plan more modular.Optionality.Have we put in place provisions for mitigating failure and riskeven if these maycome at the cost of short-term efficiency?If not,consider further derisking your project byexpanding optionality,for example th

106、rough redundancy or the pursuit of parallel options.Simplicity.Have we done everything we could to streamline our administrative structures andprocesses?Do we have a process for pruning complexity?If not,remove constraints that do notserve a clear purpose,thereby reducing complexity and leaving more

107、 room for ingenuity.Tolerateinformal mechanisms for alignment and cooperation based on trust and reciprocity rather thanrigid procedure.External Mobilization.Are we actively working with all our external partners to leverage theircapabilities and reduce internal complexity?Are they convinced of our

108、mission and approach,andwilling to help us achieve our goals?If not,start by assessing your relationship with yourstakeholders.Be willing to rely on them and foster trust-based cooperation.Drumbeat.Do we have a process in place that sets a fast and transparent“rhythm”for decisionmaking?Does this pro

109、cess facilitate making hard decisions quickly and breaking existing ruleswhere necessary?If not,establish a drumbeat function to ensure the project keeps movingforward.2023 Boston Consulting Group15AuthorsMartin ReevesMANAGING DIRECTOR&SENIOR PARTNER,CHAIRMAN OF THE BCG HENDERSONINSTITUTESan Francis

110、co-Bay AreaArthur BoulengerCONSULTANTDubaiAdam JobSTRATEGY LAB DIRECTOR,BCG HENDERSON INSTITUTEMunich ABOUT BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP1Juliano Denicol,Andrew Davies,and Ilias Krystallis,“What Are the Causes and Cures of PoorMegaproject Performance?A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda,”Pro

111、jectManagement Journal vol.51,no.3(2020).2Kate Silver,“Shot of a Lifetime:How Two Pfizer Manufacturing Plants Upscaled to Producethe COVID-19 Vaccine in Record Time,”P,2021.7Dr.Albert Bourla,Moonshot:Inside Pfizers Nine-Month Race to Make the ImpossiblePossible(Harper Business,2022).8Seamans and Ord

112、way,The Apollo Tradition.9Ibid.10 NASA.“What Made Apollo a Success?,”Aeronautics&Astronautics,March 1970.11 NASA.“What Made Apollo a Success?”12 Dr.Arnold S.Levine,Managing NASA in the Apollo Era(NASA,1982).13 Slotkin,Doing the Impossible.14 Bourla,Moonshot.15 Seamans and Ordway,The Apollo Tradition

113、.16 NASA.“Project Apollo:A Retrospective Analysis,”history.nasa.gov,2014.17 Seamans and Ordway,The Apollo Tradition.18 Silver,“Shot of a Lifetime.”19 Seamans and Ordway,The Apollo Tradition.2023 Boston Consulting Group16Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle

114、their most importantchallenges and capture their greatest opportunities.BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it wasfounded in 1963.Today,we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed atbenefiting all stakeholdersempowering organizations to grow,build sustainable

115、competitive advantage,and drive positive societal impact.Our diverse,global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives thatquestion the status quo and spark change.BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge managementconsulting,technology and design,and corporate

116、 and digital ventures.We work in a uniquely collaborativemodel across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization,fueled by the goal of helping ourclients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.Boston Consulting Group 2023.All rights reserved.For information or permission to reprint,please contact BCG at .To find the latestBCG content and register to receive e-alerts on this topic or others,please visit .Follow BostonConsulting Group on Facebook and Twitter.