From the foundering of the Vasa

Vasa (or Wasa) was a warship that was built for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden from 1626 to 1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing less than a nautical mile (ca 2 km) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628.

Vasa was built top-heavy with insufficient ballast. Despite an obvious lack of stability in port, she was allowed to set sail and foundered a few minutes later when she first encountered a wind stronger than a breeze. The impulsive move to set sail resulted from a combination of factors. King Gustavus Adolphus, who was abroad on the date of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see Vasa join the Baltic fleet in the Thirty Years' War. At the same time, the king's subordinates lacked the political courage to discuss the ship's structural problems frankly or to have the maiden voyage postponed. The sinking of Vasa is a mishap in project management, QA testing and design. Due to these, the ships were fated for imminent disaster.


The Vasa is a classic engineering failure story. It is also a practical story that directly relates to people within engineering and technology disciplines. In many ways, as Kode Vicious points out, nothing has changed since 1628: People still fail to communicate, leading to failures of disastrous proportions. Egos get in the way, and mysterious supernatural forces are blamed for human failings.

A question, then, is: What can you do if your manager, or advisor, or superior is impatient?

[To be continued]