What can we learn from the Hoover Dam project that influenced modern project management? Young Hoon Kwak a, ⁎ , John Walewski b , Dana Sleeper c , Hessam Sadatsafavi b a Department of Decision Sciences, School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, United States b Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3136, United States c School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, United States Received 11 February 2013; accepted 4 April 2013 Abstract The Hoover Dam was completed two years ahead of schedule and under budget despite political, economical, technical, and organizational obstacles. Previous literature regarding the Hoover Dam project focused primarily on the aspects of design, engineering, and construction, with minimal analysis or discussions on project and program management techniques unique to this undertaking. This paper examines project and program management practices applied to the building of the Hoover Dam, and discusses how these factors contributed to the establishment and evolution of modern project management principles, tools, and techniques. A historical review of the Hoover Dam project reveals that the project team implemented a number of innovative strategies and practices that are comparable to critical success factors for today's megaprojects to overcome monumental project challenges and obstacles. This paper conveys the organizational and managerial best practices and presents lessons learned associated with the planning and construction of the Hoover Dam project. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved. Keywords: Hoover Dam; Infrastructure; Project management; History; Mega project; Lessons learned 1. Introduction 1.1. Background The Hoover Dam is one of the greatest engineering and construction projects of the 20th Century. President Hoover, a former mining engineer, promoted the dam as part of federal efforts to combat the Great Depression and tame the infertile West. Completed in 1936 as one of the largest infrastructure projects ever built in the United States, the Hoover Dam was completed two years ahead of schedule and under budget despite political, economical, technical, and organizational obstacles (Starr, 1993). The construction of the Hoover Dam is well documented however, the literature to date regarding the Hoover Dam focuses primarily on the engineering aspects associated with design and construction, with minimal discus- sion on project and program management techniques, and how these factors contributed to the establishment and evolution of modern project management practices. The history of the Hoover Dam from a project management's perspective is critical because it ushered in the framework of planning and managing government megaprojects, initiated innovative relationships between the government and various stakeholders, and introduced a host of social and managerial solutions (e.g., infrastructure and health management, project accounting strategies) for the workers and engineers that are nominal in today's project management practices (Flyvbjerg et al., 2003; Miller and Lessard, 2001; Morris and Hough, 1987). Modern projects and programs often utilize similar ingenuity and creativity deployed on the Hoover Dam without referencing or adequate consideration to their origins. Examining the orga- nizational and managerial best practices and lessons learned associated with the planning and construction of the Hoover ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 202 994 7115; fax: +1 202 994 2736. E-mail addresses: kwak@gwu.edu (Y.H. Kwak), jwalewski@civil.tamu.edu (J. Walewski), dana.m.sleeper@gmail.com (D. Sleeper), hessam@neo.tamu.edu (H. Sadatsafavi). www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman 0263-7863/$36.00 © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2013.04.002 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect International Journal of Project Management 32 (2014) 256 – 264