Brexit is a looming disaster. On another blog HERE there is a lengthy comment by a David Kelly, a project manager who describes what is increasingly looking like an utter catastrophe. Likening Brexit to a super sized project like a nuclear power station (or as David Davis put it, the moon landings), he rightly says we have no written specification, no terms and conditions, no final objective. All we have is a fixed end date and absolutely unlimited amounts of money.
Mr Kelly says the success or failure of a project is determined before the project even starts. This is true in spades for Brexit. Everybody has been allowed to dream up their own fantasy objective. He does not believe Brexit is even deliverable.
"In order for a project to be successful, there are some important ingredients. Brexit lacks all of them, except a 'Project Must Finish By' date, the only information that we have. In March of 2019 the project finishes.
Let me painfully go through just some of the missing ingredients:
A scope of work. Famously, there isn’t one. It is as if a shipbuilding company had accepted a contract to deliver a ship in March 2019, but nobody knows what sort of ship. All we know is the launch date. This in itself makes the project to build the Holyrood parliament seem well founded in comparison.
Budget. There isn’t one. This project will go ahead no matter what it costs.
Contract Management. We have started this job without knowing what the terms and conditions are. Any of them. I cannot think of an analogy that expresses my horror at this strongly enough, other than to repeat it. We have started this job without knowing what the terms and conditions are. We are going to negotiate the T&Cs as we go along. How many times has that worked?
The blog and Mr Kelly's comment (much longer than the short extract above) are well worth reading.
When I look at those steering the project, ultimately the current members of the cabinet I think there is something odd, almost funny, going on. Brexiteers like Johnson, Gove, Fox and Davis swan around as if Brexit is proceeding well, as if the great project has been meticulously planned and is now being executed by skilled men and women all dedicated to bringing about a glorious and successful outcome. They smile for the cameras and seem oblivious of the difficulties. It is as if the nuclear power station of Brexit is committed to producing power by next March, but all we have at the moment is a few men in hi viz jackets trying to erect a builder's cabin in a muddy, windswept field somewhere in Engkand. The Brexiteers look at it and don't see any problems whatsoever. There are no alarm bells ringing - because they don't know how long things take or the amount of work involved
But sitting alongside the Brexiteers are other ministers and civil servants who know there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of anything resembling a nuclear power station being built on time or indeed at all. They are probably amazed that the Brexiteers cannot see the obvious truth. They know an almighty row is coming but, sniggering privately, keep putting off revealing to Brexiteers that Brexit is never going to happen.
