Page 32 - Global Project Management Handbook

1-14 STATE OF THE ART OF GLOBAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

were impossible to traverse. Following some suggestions made by a group of Indians, he
set out on an overland journey and reached the coast of British Columbia in July 1793. It
was another eight years before he published a full account of the journey. A year later,
Thomas Jefferson received a copy in the United States.
An American captain, Robert Gray, had already found the Columbia River. It was a
massive river that Jefferson believed must reach inland to the Rockies. He believed that if
Americans could travel up the Missouri River and reach the Columbia from the east, they
might find what MacKenzie had missed: an effective water route from the American heart-
land to the Pacific coast and the markets of Asia. Apparently the fact that the Missouri
River flowed through territory not belonging to America did not bother Jefferson.
The prize that Jefferson sought was a practical route to the Pacific. The U.S. Congress
could sponsor such a journey. The earliest assessment of cost for the journey was $2500
for equipment and provisions, including gifts for the Indians. During the spring and sum-
mer of 1803, Jefferson and Lewis worked feverishly to get the expedition under way.
In the charter given to Lewis, Jefferson stated that the mission was to find “the most
direct and practicable water communication across the continent for the purposes of com-
merce” and to ensure that the U.S. Government received accurate information about it.
Jefferson also instructed Lewis and Clark to take careful note of the latitude and longi-
tude of all remarkable points between them from the Missouri River and the coast of the
Pacific Ocean. Jefferson had another assignment for Lewis and Clark—to be Jefferson’s
roving ambassador to the western Indians. Lewis and Clark were to compile as much
information as they could about the Indian nations through the lands in which they
passed. They were instructed to meet with Indian leaders and make them acquainted with
our wish to be friendly and useful to them.
It is widely known by the project management community that a project has to have a
strong sponsor—an individual or organization that justifies the project, sets a time sched-
ule, establishes the technical objectives, and provides resources is essential. This is what
was done in the planning for the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The Suez Canal (1859–1869)
The Suez Canal is one of the wonders of the nineteenth century. It was a French initiative,
designed by a Frenchman, financed by Frenchmen, and opened up by a French symbol of

power. French entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps led the Suez Canal effort. The canal
ended up being one of the strengths of British imperial power.
During the campaign of Napoleon in Egypt in the late eighteenth century, the French
had seen the commercial and military possibilities of linking the Mediterranean and Red
seas. One man, a diplomat in the French Foreign Service, saw his career eroding in the
diplomatic service. His personal life was saddened by the loss of his wife and one of his
children. He dedicated himself to a one-man canal-building campaign from 1853 until
1869 and was obsessed with the building of the Suez Canal.
He convinced the Egyptians that the building of the canal would prove that they still
had the potential to be a powerful force in world affairs. To the French he said that the
canal would offer a grand example of their national capability more than wars and revolu-
tions. Rich Frenchmen invested in his company. Unfortunately, he was considered to be
somewhat of a crackpot in other countries. In England, British leaders trashed his plans.
A spokesman in England called it “among the many bubble schemes that from time to
time have been put on gullible capitalists.” Whether this trashing was a reflection of
British stupidity, a lack of foresight by British leaders, or a subtle cunning on the part of
the British leaders is not known.