case study harvard project management

Project Management

The teaching cases in this section address the challenges related to implementation and scale faced by project managers in a variety of settings.

Shoring Up Child Protection in Massachusetts: Commissioner Spears & the Push to Go Fast

Publication Date: July 13, 2023

 In January 2015, when incoming Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker chose Linda Spears as his new Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, he was looking for a reformer. Following the grizzly death of a child under DCF...

Architect, Pilot, Scale, Improve: A Framework and Toolkit for Policy Implementation

Publication Date: May 12, 2021

Successful implementation is essential for achieving policymakers’ goals and must be considered during both design and delivery. The mission of this monograph is to provide you with a framework and set of tools to achieve success. The...

Different Approaches to Building a Unified Government Website in Argentina, Peru, and Mexico

Publication Date: August 21, 2020

Government digitization has proven to benefit both citizens and public agencies. On the one hand, citizens are able to find a consistent interface and reliable information on a single site and are able to access streamlined digital government...

Mothers of Rotterdam: Scaling a Social Services Program in the Netherlands

Publication Date: June 7, 2018

Board Chair Nanne Boonstra was about to learn the details of a scaling strategy proposal for Mothers of Rotterdam, a fledgling social service program that helped the city’s disadvantaged pregnant women.Boonstra’s employer, a venture...

Lesotho Hospital and Filter Clinics: A Public-Private Partnership Sequel

Publication Date: October 17, 2016

This sequel accompanies case number 1999.0. This case looks at a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Health Ministry for the government of Lesotho and a private consortium headed up by Netcare, a South African company, to build and...

Lesotho Hospital and Filter Clinics: A Public-Private Partnership

Publication Date: October 03, 2013

This case looks at a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Health Ministry for the government of Lesotho and a private consortium headed up by Netcare, a South African company, to build and operate a new referral hospital and four feeder...

TransMilenio: The Battle Over Avenida Séptima

Publication Date: May 10, 2011

In August of 2007, the mayor of Bogotá, Luis Eduardo Garzón, had to decide whether to proceed with plans to build a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line in Avenida Séptima, one of the most important transportation corridors in the...

California High-Speed Rail

Publication Date: November 18, 2010

In January 2010, the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) was waiting to hear whether the Obama Administration would approve its application for $4.7 billion in federal stimulus funding to begin the construction of a $50-billion,...

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator: A Model for Reducing Unemployment in South Africa

Publication Date: April 20, 2023

 In the fourth quarter of 2021, South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 35%, the highest since 2008. Though some of the job losses could be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country had already been experiencing high unemployment...

Health Care & the Isolated Poor in the Lower Rio Grande Valley: The Quest to Make a Lasting Change (Sequel)

Publication Date: December 14, 2006

The spring of 2005 marked a tricky juncture for the leaders of a program designed to improve health care access for thousands of residents living in impoverished, isolated settlements just north of the Mexican border in the Lower Rio Grande...

Health Care & the Isolated Poor in the Lower Rio Grande Valley: The Quest to Make a Lasting Change

To What End? Re-thinking Terrorist Attack Exercises in San Jose (Sequel, part 2)

Publication Date: November 03, 2005

This case study tells the story of San Jose, California, one of the first 27 cities in the country to participate in a federal domestic preparedness program. Between 1997 and 1999, a specially created city task force mounted several full-scale...

What is the Case Study Method?

Overview Dropdown up

Overview dropdown down, celebrating 100 years of the case method at hbs.

The 2021-2022 academic year marks the 100-year anniversary of the introduction of the case method at Harvard Business School. Today, the HBS case method is employed in the HBS MBA program, in Executive Education programs, and in dozens of other business schools around the world. As Dean Srikant Datar's says, the case method has withstood the test of time.

Case Discussion Preparation Details Expand All Collapse All

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How Cases Unfold In the Classroom

How cases unfold in the classroom dropdown up, how cases unfold in the classroom dropdown down, preparation guidelines expand all collapse all, read the professor's assignment or discussion questions read the professor's assignment or discussion questions dropdown down, read the first few paragraphs and then skim the case read the first few paragraphs and then skim the case dropdown down, reread the case, underline text, and make margin notes reread the case, underline text, and make margin notes dropdown down, note the key problems on a pad of paper and go through the case again note the key problems on a pad of paper and go through the case again dropdown down, how to prepare for case discussions dropdown up, how to prepare for case discussions dropdown down, read the professor's assignment or discussion questions, read the first few paragraphs and then skim the case, reread the case, underline text, and make margin notes, note the key problems on a pad of paper and go through the case again, case study best practices expand all collapse all, prepare prepare dropdown down, discuss discuss dropdown down, participate participate dropdown down, relate relate dropdown down, apply apply dropdown down, note note dropdown down, understand understand dropdown down, case study best practices dropdown up, case study best practices dropdown down, participate, what can i expect on the first day dropdown down.

Most programs begin with registration, followed by an opening session and a dinner. If your travel plans necessitate late arrival, please be sure to notify us so that alternate registration arrangements can be made for you. Please note the following about registration:

HBS campus programs – Registration takes place in the Chao Center.

India programs – Registration takes place outside the classroom.

Other off-campus programs – Registration takes place in the designated facility.

What happens in class if nobody talks? Dropdown down

Professors are here to push everyone to learn, but not to embarrass anyone. If the class is quiet, they'll often ask a participant with experience in the industry in which the case is set to speak first. This is done well in advance so that person can come to class prepared to share. Trust the process. The more open you are, the more willing you’ll be to engage, and the more alive the classroom will become.

Does everyone take part in "role-playing"? Dropdown down

Professors often encourage participants to take opposing sides and then debate the issues, often taking the perspective of the case protagonists or key decision makers in the case.

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Case Method Teaching

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What is the Case Method?

The core pedagogy of Harvard Business School since the early 20th century, the case method boasts a unique ability to make complex concepts accessible and develop students’ leadership skills, all while creating an engaging intellectual atmosphere.

A “case” is a short narrative document – a story – that presents a particular challenge facing an individual or organization. Each case reflects the information available to decision-makers at the time, and builds to a particular decision point, but without revealing what decision was actually made. For each class, students are asked to read the case and to put themselves in the shoes of the actual decision-makers to consider what they themselves would have done given the information available at the time.

To help situate the decision, each case also provides background history on the most relevant issues and events leading up to the decision point. For example, a case that focuses on a decision facing Martin Luther King Jr. during the campaign for black voting rights in 1965 also traces the broader civil rights movement, as well as the history of segregation and black disenfranchisement in the U.S. since the Civil War.

In the classroom, the instructor poses questions to guide student discussion. These carefully designed questions are the key to any successful case-method course. An experienced case-method teacher is often thinking several steps ahead, anticipating what points and questions might be raised and standing ready with follow-up questions to guide the group. Active participation in class is essential to the case method’s success, and the grading metrics reflect its importance. Students quickly learn to speak up, to challenge each other, and to build on each other’s ideas.

Any professor or teacher can teach by the case method. Content expertise beyond the case itself is helpful but not required. To assist both experienced and new case-method teachers, each case has its own teaching plan: a flexible road-map for the instructor that suggests specific questions, strategies for eliciting key insights, and ideas for organizing student responses visually on a blackboard. For some cases, more extensive supporting documents known as “teaching notes” are available to fully brief the instructor on the relevant history and the multiple levels of questions he or she might consider.

“ I’ve never had this experience as a teacher before, and it's explicitly due to the case method — it's a game changer. ”

Top 10 Project Management Case Studies with Examples 2024

1. nasa's mars exploration rover: innovative project management in space exploration., 2. apple's iphone development: delivering revolutionary products with precision., 3. tesla's gigafactory construction: exemplary project execution in renewable energy., 4. netflix's content expansion: agile management in the entertainment industry., 5. amazon's prime air drone delivery: pioneering logistics project management., 6. google's waymo self-driving cars: cutting-edge technology meets project efficiency., 7. mcdonald's digital transformation: adaptive project management in fast food., 8. ikea's sustainable store design: eco-friendly project implementation in retail., 9. unicef's vaccine distribution: humanitarian project management at scale., 10. spacex's starlink satellite network: revolutionizing global connectivity with project prowess., discover more stories.

IT Assessment Project Readiness

Over 2 months of working with a financial services firm, our team enabled their virtual workforce initiative, and transformed the it remote computing from reactive to proactive, allowing for engineering projects to be completed., project background.

A $7 billion worldwide provider of insurance, retirement services, and asset management was preparing for the rollout of a long-term virtual workforce strategy to complement the current in-office approach. They wanted an IT assessment of workforce mobility to determine technical readiness for having groups of people working from home.

The Strategy

End-users from two pilot work-from-home groups were interviewed along with members from each infrastructure technology group. Interview results were shared with technical team members in a Rapid Envisioning Session (RES), where a set of shortcomings and risks were identified. Subsequent meetings with specific technical teams yielded proposed solutions that were then validated with the larger technical team. Results were shared with sponsors and senior management.

Proven Results

• A member of the Remote Services group was promoted to manage a Help Desk team, bringing important knowledge and process.
• The Help Desk began to resolve remote access issues, engineers were freed up to improve the scalability of the environment, and the initiative went from reactive to proactive.
• Helped to select a new technology infrastructure partner to provide IT staff with current perspectives and advice on technology.
• Our financial analysis helped senior management better understand and plan for the real costs of a virtual desktop environment.

More Successful Projects

IT Governance - IT Project Review

IT Governance- Budget Review

IT Governance - IT Priorities Committee

Uncover opportunities for it excellence.

Terra Gaines, Senior Account Manager for Harvard Partners has been in the Staffing Industry for 17 years, supporting multiple industry verticals and market segments including: IT, Cybersecurity, Semi-Conductor, Tech Integrators, Finance & Medical to name a few. Her personal and professional passions have always been people centric and she’s extremely proud of providing white glove service to each client and manager that she serves.

Jill Gearhart, Director Client Services, has over 20 years of Account Management experience in technology service areas across IT Consulting & Staffing, Cloud, Datacenter, Networking & Communications. Jill’s focus is in Client Engagement, proposing and ensuring the successful delivery of services from the Harvard Partners Portfolio tailored to attain each Client’s desired business outcomes, including the Staffing of essential resources.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners in 2014, she held a high-level Account Management position at a global technology company now known as Lumen (formerly CenturyLink), where she was appointed to multiple Excellence Advisory boards in several Enterprise product areas, domestic and abroad, over the span of 11 years. Notably, after the Qwest-CenturyLink Merger in 2010, and the acquisition of Savvis thereafter, she was instrumental in the integration between organizations in the effort to build a seamless customer experience. Through continual engagement with Enterprise client organizations throughout her tenure, she has had the privilege of collaborating on solutions and individual resources needed to answer numerous business objectives, whether expanding into new markets or advancing operational efficiency and resiliency.

Education: Bachelor’s of Science, Business Administration, Bryant University, Cum Laude

Chris Callaghan is the Director of Architecture Services and is responsible for overseeing the architectural services arm of Harvard Partners. This includes everything from to architecture approach strategy, to candidate selection & vetting, to engagement leadership. Chris has years of technology architecture consulting experience ranging from boutique architectural services companies to larger, established consulting companies. He’s played multiple roles, from individual contribution to client and consultant management.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners, he was the Engagement Lead and Consultant Manager at Systems Flow, Inc. where he was responsible for client engagement management, consultant management, architectural services, SOW negotiation/creation/signing, training, etc. Prior to that, he worked as an Enterprise Solutions Architect for a large reinsurance firm under Fairfax Holdings.

Gary Gardner is the Managing Director of Harvard Partners and an Information Technology executive with over 30 years of global Investment Management experience. He has a broad range of knowledge of Investment Management systems including investment research, portfolio management, trading, compliance, back office, CRM, and client reporting. Gary has expertise with technical infrastructure, operational risk, business continuity, SOX compliance, SSAE16 certification, vendor management, and cloud services.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners, he was the Chief Technology Officer at Batterymarch Financial Management, Inc. and GMO LLC where he was responsible for IT leadership and technical strategy for high computational and data-intensive quantitative asset management environments. Gary also held senior technology positions at Santander Global Advisors and Baring Asset Management.

Education: Gary studied Management Information Systems at Northeastern University.

Steve Walsh is a Managing Partner at Harvard Partners. Steve has been a career business leader for companies such as Hewlett Packard, EMC, Centerstone Manhattan Software, ClearEdge Partners, and Alliance Consulting.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners Steve was the worldwide leader for the Storage Consulting practice at Hewlett Packard. In this role, Steve was responsible for more than 500 employees encompassing sales, pursuit, portfolio, and delivery. Under Steve’s stewardship Storage Consulting built offerings to help clients assess and design complex storage infrastructures and develop state-of-the-art backup, recovery, and business continuance strategies. Steve grew the Storage Consulting Practice at HP by over 200% and introduced 20 new value-added offerings.

In addition to Hewlett Packard Steve has worked for companies both large and small. At ClearEdge Partners Steve advised C-level Fortune 500eExecutives on their IT purchasing and supply chain strategies, saving his clients millions over his tenure. Steve also has been a business leader at Alliance Consulting, where he built a practice to more than 200 consultants and 10 strategic offerings. Steve started his career at EMC Corporation from 1986 to 1998.

Education: Boston College School of Management, Computer Science

Matt Ferm is a F ounder and Managing Partner of Harvard Partners. Matt’s focus is on IT Assessments, IT Governance, and Program Management. Prior to Harvard Partners, Matt spent 17 years with Wellington Management Company, LLP. As an Associate Partner and Director of Enterprise Technologies, Matt was responsible for managing the global physical computing infrastructure of this financial services firm. This includes data centers, servers, voice and data networks, desktops, laptops, audio/video hardware, messaging (email, IM, etc.), security administration, disaster recovery, production control, monitoring, market data services, storage systems, and capacity planning.

During his career at Wellington, Matt managed the Operational Resilience, Resource Management, Systems Engineering, IT Client Services, and IT Strategic Development groups, chaired the firm’s Year 2000 efforts and was a member of the firms IS Priorities Committee, Project Review Committee (Chair), Systems Architecture Committee (Chair), Year 2000 Committee (Chair), Operational Resilience Committee, Incident Review Committee and Web Oversight Committee.

Prior to joining Wellington Management in 1992, Matt served as Director of Financial Services Markets for Apollo Computer, Hewlett-Packard, and Oki Electric where he managed the marketing of Unix workstations to the Financial Services industry. In 1985, Matt was Manager, New Business Development for Gregg Corporation (now IDD/Dow Jones/SunGard), a small investment database software company. Matt got his start in 1981 on Wall Street, working in the Custody Department of Bankers Trust and the MIS department of E.F. Hutton. Matt received his BA in Economics from Queens College, the City University of New York in 1982, and is a member of the Society for Information Management.

Education: Queens College, City University of New York – BA in Economics

Jason Young is a Senior Technical Recruiter at Harvard Partners and has more than 13 years of experience in recruiting and talent acquisition. Jason’s focus is on leading recruiting efforts and ensuring expectations are met or exceeded between our client’s needs and our candidate’s experience to deliver. Throughout his career, he’s filled immediate needs with high-level IT and business professionals. He also developed sourcing strategies and built strong relationships with IT specialists, leaders, and executives in a variety of industries.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners in 2018, Jason had a successful career with Advantage Technical Resourcing, (formerly TAC Worldwide Companies). He began his career in IT Staffing with Advantage as a Sourcing Recruiter, finding top-tier candidates for the Sr. Recruiters. He quickly advanced to be the sole recruiter of a national high-volume staffing program. His accomplishments with this program led to him being an MSA recruiter for a large global enterprise client. He provided them with a wide range of talent for more than five years.

Education: Bachelor’s of Arts, Psychology, Framingham State University

Lisa Brody is the Talent Operations Manager at Harvard Partners and her focus is on managing the recruiting practice. Lisa has over 30 years of experience in recruiting and talent acquisition. She has successfully brought top-tier Information Technology and Business Professionals to our clients, with a purpose, to fill immediate needs as well as, create an ongoing strategy to find IT specialists, leaders, and executives in a variety of industries.

Prior to joining Harvard Partners in 2016, Lisa reveled in an accomplished career with Advantage Technical Resourcing, (formerly TAC Worldwide Companies) from the rise of the organization, serving in several specialized recruiting and talent management roles. She was a lead MSA recruiter for large global enterprise clients for over a decade, providing a wide range of talent. Throughout her advancement, she has consistently, cultivated a strong reputation among candidates and clients for competency, professionalism, and results.

Education: Massachusetts Bay Community College, Wellesley, MA Associate of Science, Retail Management

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Agile project management

• Project management
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An Agile Approach to Budgeting for Uncertain Times

• Darrell K. Rigby
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• August 27, 2020

Agility Hacks

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It’s Time to End the Battle Between Waterfall and Agile

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To Build an Agile Team, Commit to Organizational Stability

• Elaine Pulakos
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Aligning Your Organization with an Agile Workforce

• Jon Younger
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• February 11, 2016

Agile at Scale

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Project Managers Should Think Like Startup Founders

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• November 02, 2023

The Agile Family Meeting

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• June 26, 2020

How Learning and Development Are Becoming More Agile

• October 11, 2016

Bring Agile to the Whole Organization

• Jeff Gothelf
• November 14, 2014

When Waterfall Principles Sneak Back Into Agile Workflows

• Steve Blank
• September 05, 2019

Drive Innovation with Better Decision-Making

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Why Science-Driven Companies Should Use Agile

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• November 04, 2019

Embracing Agile

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How Machine Learning Will Transform Supply Chain Management

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How HR Can Become Agile (and Why It Needs To)

• June 19, 2017

How We Finally Made Agile Development Work

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Should I Pitch a New Project-Management System? (HBR Case Study)

• Denis Dennehy
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• January 01, 2024

Your Agile Project Needs a Budget, Not an Estimate

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HR Goes Agile

• Peter Cappelli
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TCS: Agility at Scale-Managing Change

• Yuk-fai Fong
• R. Chandrasekhar
• April 22, 2023

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Projects and Initiatives (with bonus article "The Rise of the Chief Project Officer" by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez)

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• June 25, 2024

Changing the Landscape at Arcane: Implementation

• David Loree
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• February 13, 2023

Thoughtworks: Agile Innovation in the Digital Era

• Taiyuan Wang
• Daniel Han Ming Chng
• July 04, 2023

Liip: The Path to Holacracy

• Joerg Dietz
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• December 15, 2021

Transport Solutions: TCS Helps its Transformation to an Agile Enterprise

• Abhoy K Ojha
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Product-Market Alignment

• Panos Markou
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• April 18, 2022

Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook Toolkit

• December 31, 2021

entomo - Enabling People Experience for the Digital World of Work

• Debolina Dutta
• Chaitali Vedak
• February 01, 2023

OneBlood and COVID-19: Building an Agile Supply Chain

• Raina Gandhi
• October 19, 2021

Bus Uncle Chatbot - Creating a Successful Digital Business (A)

• Yuet Nan Wong
• Siu Loon Hoe
• May 26, 2021

Agile Development

• Yael Grushka-Cockayne
• January 19, 2021

Continuous Design Using Hypothesis-Driven Development

• April 12, 2023

The Industry Dilemma: Allow Ethical Moonlighting Or Lose To Gig Working?

• Abhishek Sahu
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HP 3D Printing (C)

• Joan Jane Marcet
• December 19, 2019

Meta: Digitally Transforming Workforce Management at Scale and with Agility

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Facilitating Digital Development with Agile User Stories

• June 01, 2023

Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)

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Beware the Pitfalls of Agility

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Pass the Keys (A) and (B), Teaching Note

• John Mullins
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entomo - Enabling People Experience for the Digital World of Work, Teaching Note

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