The success of a project is not measured simply by the arrival in service of a product giving its promised performance. Success means the arrival in service of a product giving its promised performance, purchased at the promised price and delivered on the promised date.

To achieve these targets with a complex aerospace product requires the effective management of a large number of people, ranging from scientists through designers, technicians, managers, accountants, typists, fitters and coppersmiths to delivery truck drivers. Their efforts must be directed, each in his proper place and time, towards a single goal. The success of the project can be influenced considerably by the type of organisation adopted for the management of this wide variety of people.