The root problem is incentives. When a failed project doesn't mean any loss (financial or otherwise), there is no market correction. That, and no one has been a

The root problem is incentives. When a failed project doesn't mean any loss (financial or otherwise), there is no market correction. That, and no one has been able to actually defined what a failure is. Is 10 years too long? Who knows...there are no experts who can plan for that. [0] When healthcare.gov was turned around by a select set of motivated individuals, it only happened because the people who were involved had a high degree of motivation. IMHO I believe they were motivated by eliminating personal frustration (or having empathy for those who are frustrated) and the upside of a highly visible software project (with none of the downside...it was already failing). Money wasn't a focal point here. [0] - http://lesswrong.com/lw/jg/planning_fallacy/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/jg/planning_fallacy/