How Agile Concepts were used to Accelerate
Restoration of Post-Katrina New Orleans
CASE STUDY
By Lewis E. Link, PhD
Senior Fellow, Project Management Center for Excellence
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Maryland,
College Park, Maryland, USA
Abstract
One of the most significant developments in project management has been the emergence of agile concepts. After Katrina flooded 80% of New Orleans and devastated most of the 350-mile protective perimeter, the restoration of New Orleans and vicinity was dependent on a massive reconstruction effort, complicated by the next hurricane season in 9 months. This paper chronicles an early application of agile project management concepts to accomplish this challenge. This included the forensic assessment of what happened and why, the rapid restoration of pre-Katrina protection and the design and construction of a long-term risk reduction system.
Key Words: Forensic Analysis, Risk and Reliability, Design and Construction, Infrastructure Systems
Introduction
Project management, PM, has become an essential element for success in major endeavors across many fields. It plays an especially large role in large infrastructure projects. These efforts often deal complicated stakeholder relationships, complex analysis and planning, time and resource constraints and considerable uncertainty. In many cases the outcomes have critical impacts on societal safety and well-being. For projects associated with natural disasters, the most challenging constraint can be time. Achieving a meaningful level of risk reduction before mother nature can strike again is the coin of the realm. This was aptly demonstrated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. With only 9 months until the next hurricane season and a major metropolitan area under water, it was imperative to restore some level of mitigation before the next storm season. Equally important was the timely design and construct a long-term risk reduction system that would sustain New Orleans into the future. The information in this paper was presented as a Plenary Talk at the University of Maryland 2026 Project Management Symposium, 30 April and 1 May, College Park, MD.
The Katrina Event and New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina and its Impact
Katrina struck New Orleans and vicinity early on 30 August 2005. As the storm propagated across the Gulf of Mexico it intensified to CAT 5 (Saffir-Simpson Scale) with peak winds up to 175 mph. It eventually degraded to CAT 3 with peak winds around 127 mph when made landfall at Buras, LA. While in the Gulf, Katrina spawned surge and wave conditions which propagated to the coastline, representing the highest recorded surge and wave levels to strike North America. What Katrina encountered on shore was an incomplete and inadequate Hurricane Protection System.
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How to cite this article: Link, L. E. (2026). Early Application of Agile in Project Management: How Agile Concepts were used to Accelerate Restoration of Post-Katrina New Orleans, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue IX, September. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/pmwj168-Sep2026-Link-Agile-PM-Post-Katrina-New-Orleans-case-stidy.pdf
About the Author
Lewis E. Link, PhD
Maryland, USA
Lewis E Link, PhD, is Senior Research Engineer for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Senior Fellow, Project Management Center for Excellence, University of Maryland, USA. Dr. Link received a BS degree in Geological Engineering from N C State University, an MS Degree in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University and a PhD in Civil Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
He worked for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for 34 years, culminating as the Director of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Advisor. Upon retiring in 2002 he joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, teaching natural hazards risk and resilience in the Honors College.
After the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, he served as the Director of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, conducting a comprehensive assessment of Katrina and what happened and why. This work laid the technical foundation for the immediate temporary fixes to the over 200 miles of structures damaged by Katrina and the design and construction of the $15B risk reduction system put in place to provide long-term sustainability of the New Orleans area.
He served as the U.S. representative to the International Advisory Commission for The Netherlands, addressing the threat of long-term climate change to that nation. Dr Link served on the Coastal Engineering Research Board for the U.S. Department of Defence, is currently a Contributing Editor for The Military Engineer, Society of American Military Engineers and on the Board of Directors of Taylor Engineering. He was elected to the National Academy of Construction and received the MacGraw Hill – Engineering News Record Award of Excellence and The Army Engineer Associations Gold Order of the DeFluery Medal. He has served on numerous National Research Council, National Science Foundation and American Society of Civil Engineers technical panels and committees in the United States.
