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Imo big infrastructure needs like roads and subways shouldn't be done on a project basis at all. For instance, NYC shouldn't bid and build out massive contracts
by thereisnospork 7y ago
Imo big infrastructure needs like roads and subways shouldn't be done on a project basis at all. For instance, NYC shouldn't bid and build out massive contracts for a few km of subway. They should own a boring machine and add 10-100m of tunnels a week, every week[0]. (numbers arbitrary) You can shake so much overhead around project start-up and shut-down and it will be a long time before NYC (nevermind someplace like SF) has saturated the demand for public transit.
[0] Best example of this sort of logic that I have seen implemented is painting the golden gate bridge, just one properly sized and experienced crew painting from one end to the other and back again without the boondoggle.
- vl 7y agoBut why there is a need to paint it all the time?
- jacobush 7y agoSo it doesn’t rust
- thereisnospork 7y agoTo make up some numbers: Assume that a paint job lasts 20 years. So if it takes a team of five 20 years to paint the bridge by the time they've reached the end the beginning will need a new coat. Otherwise every 20 years they would need to hire, train, then fire 200 painters for a 6 month-long paint job project. 200 painters, managers, and etc. who will invariably be less experienced with the finer points of painting said bridge since they don't do it every day.
- jacques_chester 7y agoI've thought the same for a while. A lot of the expense in upgrading rail cars, replacing frigates, building hospitals etc comes from the fact that every such project has massively expensive organisation constructed around it and then ... it's thrown away. The Project Production Institute take a similar view: that instead of modeling a project as a fixed thing, you focus on it as a production process. https://projectproduction.org/ https://projectproduction.org/