Slaying the project timeline dragon

The inability of project managers to bring their work in on time, let alone within budget, has long been a rich source of copy for business journalists. Maybe it's the way journalists have to focus on deadlines that leaves the press so perplexed as to how everyone else can miss them. Well now I'm writing on the subject for the Financial Times Connected Business report on IT for Design & Manufacturing in June*.

I'm looking for concrete examples of cases where IT has enabled a project to proceed and hit deadlines. I want clear linkages between the technology in question and the actual work in progress. Ideally these should be advanced engineering or construction projects.

I am not interested in empty abstractions about productivity gains or management theory. People read the FT to escape that kind of blather.

I'm working towards a deadline of Friday 13 June, but the sooner I can identify relevant interviews the sooner this article will be complete. As a journalist, I always aim to bring my projects in well ahead of their deadlines!

*My formal commission is for article 6, Compressing Project Timelines. Can technology cure the curse of the extended project timeline? What has IT contributed to rapid development in a world plagued by cost overruns?