A delayed new international airport was accelerated

Work on construction of Oslo’s new international airport at Gardemoen during the late 1990s was falling further and further behind schedule with every month that passed, notwithstanding the various risk analysts who were involved in the project. Nine months before the opening date an analysis process was carried out with a large group of the key individuals involved, using the Successive Principle.

It became clear after two days how much acceleration needed to be applied if the target was to be reached. In addition, three overriding causes of the problems were identified. The first was communication lines between the senior managers of the Airport and of Scandinavian Airlines. The second was complex decision-making channels and the third related to the sequence of completion activities.

These three factors were promptly addressed and brought into line. As is well known, the project was delivered exactly on time. In this case it was the ability of the Successive Principle to prioritise the various optimisation options according to their importance which was crucial.