Interesting read, Nizzy.
I like the conclusion...
All success is rooted in either luck or failure. If you begin with luck, you learn nothing but arrogance. However, if you begin with failure and learn to evaluate it, you also learn to succeed. Failure begets knowledge. Out of knowledge you gain wisdom, and it is with wisdom that you can become truly successful.
I also think it's interesting that the report leads one to think of the modern "Agile" project method as a good thing. I am wary of that, but I can see the logic.
A note about bridges (well, general construction) projects and their general success: there is always the odd exception to prove the rule...Edinburgh Trams. My understanding of that was that it boiled down to client obligations not being fulfilled. And I have seen this as a big challenge in IT projects too (fixed price ones, generally). I think government IT projects suffer particularly badly from this. The client thinks "it's fixed price, we've handed all the risk to the supplier". Then lo and behold a short (or long) time later the client has a huge bill and/or write off on their hands. Who's just realised the risk, eh...
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