Question: On 15 September 2020, the Chair of the US Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure released its final committee report on the Design, Development and Certification of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. This was a result of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also issuing its Safety Recommendations Report based on their assessment of the design-related context of the Indonesian and Ethiopian fatal accidents to Boeing 737 MAX-8 aircraft on 29 October 2018 and 10 March 2019 respectively. Using this case and other research, you are to examine the Boeing 737 MAX project through a project management lens to determine what went wrong, why and what can be learned from this project. From your research, you must include a discussion of: 1. at least four key PM issues related to your research, how well they were used and what should have been done; 2. an assessment of two major risks across the project life with a suggested likelihood, consequence, impact potential plus suggested mitigation strategies (hint: you may need to use an appendix for the detail) 3. a comparison to the development of one other aircraft in the same category, mentioning similarities or differences from the PM perspective for the three key PM issues you have identified. 4. a suggested Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to Level 2 detail and with one of these to Level 3 detail (hint: you may need to use an appendix for the detail). 5. the top three lessons that can be learned by today’s project managers. CASE STUDY: After years of mostly trouble-free airline development since the early 1950s with the de Havilland Comet crashes, the Boeing B737-MAX8 crashes and the ensuring investigations were a shock to the aerospace industry long used to high safety standards. Many felt the trust built between the air travelling public and the original equipment manufacturers had been betrayed. The more that was revealed in the investigations, the more many aerospace experts believed that the system of designing, developing and certifying new aircraft was broken. You can start your research into the Boeing 737 MAX8 here with the US Transportation and Infrastructure Boeing 737 Max Report_House Committee_2020.09.15 FINAL 737 MAX Report for Public Release.pdf. Boeing 737 Max Report_House Committee_2020.09.15 FINAL 737 MAX Report for Public Release.pdf. – Alternative Formats Do not be put off by the 245 pages; most of the information is in the first 32 pages of the executive summary. However, you should avoid getting into a detailed discussion of the Maneuvering Control Augmentation System (MCAS); keep any discussion on the MCAS function to about two sentences if you can. Other research is also available for you to gather for addressing the assignment question which you are expected to use.
