The entire student assembly was left quite speechless after watching this video "Titanic - Project Management Blunders". The video lasted 20 minutes but kept everyone completely riveted until the end. You can click the image below to watch it.
Far from the romanced story line of the cinema blockbuster that we all have heard of, this documentary explains why a tremendous project ended up at the bottom of the sea. "Why did it happen, the ship was deemed unsinkable" says the video. Eight weeks safety trials were reduced down to one single half a day. The sailors in charge of looking out for icebergs were not provided long views and the crew members who had them didn't want to share because of the difference of "ranks" between them. Lessons from the recent projects were never learned etc...
As I was seating there, I couldn't help but think: only men are mentioned in the dealing of this project. The women related to Titanic were only part of the First Class passengers, probably wifes of some of the 53 millionaires on board. This thought was probably prompted by the Irish Times article (Sunday 27th October) announcing the annually anticipated Dublin Web Summit, 30th & 31st October 2013. This article explained that only one in eight technical speakers are women and that it's worrying:
"The dearth of women in tech companies is a global issue, but Ireland is ‘at the bottom of the heap’ in tackling it"
My questions will probably never be answered but I will formulate them anyway. Should women had been involved in the Titanic Board meetings... would Titanic still be afloat? Could women have avoided the catastrophe by diluting the excessive pride and wild dreams brewed by the over excited male hormones in charge?
Linking this with the message kindly given to us by the brilliant people from Harmonics: Women, don't be scared to stand out!
Enough for now with the serious worries and questions. I will leave you today with this very funny video from Harry Henfield: Women know your place!