Was the Collins project destroyed from within, before the contract was signed ?

Question

Robert Clark had taken over from Michael Roberts. Spectacular gains were made.

The gains made by Michael Roberts+Robert Clark could have continued - Robert Clark had discovered the secret.

I don't understand how these gains were wiped out, as they must have been.

There must have been rivalry among work colleagues.

Astoundingly, Robert Towers (a precursor of Robert Clark and Michael Roberts) called in at Building 43. No-one thought to offer him a job.

It only needed one person to stop the project going bad.

Was there lack of decisiveness in the Collins project ?

Is this Murphy's law, or just "catastrophe theory", at work.

Answer 1

An organization tries to build-in protections against the rogue

staffer.

There should be checks in place to prevent a rogue staffer seizing power.

On Collins, person w, high in the food chain might have said

"come and talk to me about project x". The person asked might have looked across the room and thought "person y is very personable so I'll put them forward" and says "ask person y". Person w looks stunned but does not persist. Person y will now believe they have a mandate to escalate any absurd behaviour. Person y may have been a very poor choice.