Question

Two examples of massively mismanaged projects are TAURUS and the Canadian federal government long-gun registry. The first, formally called the London Stock Exchange Automation Project, cost $575 million before it was finally abandoned. Although most IT projects have a reputation for cost overruns, delays, and underperformance, TAURUS set a new standard.

As unfortunate as the TAURUS case may be, the Canadian federal government's long-gun registry was worse. In additional to the registry being a divisive issue and its value being questioned, the costs of implementing and maintaining the system mushroomed out of control. Taxpayers were initially expected to contribute $2 million of the budget while registration fees were expected to cover the remaining costs. By the time the registry was scrapped in 2012, estimates of the cost of the program exceeded $1 billion.

Read about one of these two projects (or another of your choice) and explain why it faced such problems. How and why do project managers allow such massive endeavors to fall into such a state? What do you think are the causes?