many senior managers and management consultants seem to be unaware of the differences between development projects in telecommunications services as opposed to those in equipment design and manufacturing. this book addresses those differences, their interaction with telecommunications deregulation and their consequences on the ability of telecommunications service providers to deliver services on schedule and within budget. this book addresses three major problems that have been identified due to the fragmentation of the project environment: the problem of coordination among all parties and the high degree of technological, environmental and market uncertainities. this may lead to complex and costly communications, to excessive bureaucracy, or both. the problem of the absent end-customer, which makes application of quality techniques more difficult. the problem of the transmission of knowledge among successive or concurrent projects. learning requires some slack time, which is anathema to lean management ideals, and some repetition, which is not the case of project organization. this is particularly acute regarding parts that have been outsourced or managed by outside consultants.