Chapter 24: Planning, managing and executing the design and construction of Advanced LIGO

This chapter describes how Advanced LIGO came to be, as a case study for planning and managing large-scale scientific infrastructure projects. A short history is given along with motivations for the scope, timing and project structure. The key documents, tools and organizational bodies that enabled the project to be executed successfully are described. Several specific systems aspects — contamination, testing, configuration and quality control, and fault recording — are mentioned. Lastly, the project management approach is reviewed.