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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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HOW BIG THINGS GET DONE

Dan Gardner Bent Flyvbjerg

The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between

How do you successfully plan and deliver a complex project on time and on budget? Bent Flyvbjerg, dubbed the world's leading megaproject expert, in collaboration with New York Times bestselling author Dan Gardner, shares the secrets to successfully planning and delivering any project on any scale, from a home renovation to space exploration.
Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant, new reality. Think of how Amazon started in a garage and became a global retail giant in five years; or how Apple's iPod went from a project with a single employee to a product launch in eleven months; or how the Empire State Building went from a sketch to the jewel of New York's skyline in twenty-one months.

These grand visions make for inspiring stories. But even for endeavors of far smaller scale, whether it's organizing an event, implementing a department-wide process, or renovating a home, require complex feats of planning and coordination. Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures in delivering on bold visions has been the life's work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg. In HOW BIG THINGS GET DONE, he identifies the errors in judgment and decision-making that lead projects, both big and small, to fail, and the research-based principles that will make you succeed with yours.

For example:
- Understand your odds. If you don't know them, you won't win.
- Plan slow, act fast. Get to the action quick sounds right. But it's dead wrong.
- Think right to left: Start with your goal, then identify the steps to get there.
- Find your Lego. Big is best built from small.
- Be a team maker. You won't succeed without an "us."
- Master the unknown unknowns. Most think they can't, so they fail. Flyvbjerg shows how you can.

Full of vivid stories that are lively and engaging, from the building of the Sydney Opera House, to the making of Toy Story, to a home renovation gone awry, HOW BIG THINGS GET DONE reveals how to get any ambitious project done - on time and on budget.
Flyvbjerg has helped numerous organizations globally including the world's largest banks, consultancies, and technology companies - plan, manage, and fix projects. And the same principles he's followed to deliver these projects on time and budget apply to all. This is a big idea book that is not only loaded with practical takeaways, but is also timeless and will be a must read for anyone about to tackle a megaproject of their own.

Bent Flyvbjerg is a professor at Oxford University, an economist, and "the world's leading megaproject expert," according to the global accounting network KPMG. He has consulted on over one hundred projects costing $1 billion or more and has been knighted by the Queen of Denmark.
Dan Gardner is a journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of Risk, Future Babble, and Superforecasting (with Philip E. Tetlock).
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Book

Published 2023-02-07 by Currency

Book

Published 2023-02-07 by Currency

Comments

Adapted essay: How Frank Gehry Delivers On Time and On Budget - Lessons from the master architect in managing big projects... Read more...

[How Big Things Get Done is] a book that every legislator, city council member and corporate executive ought to read.

This book distills the best scientific advice on planning big projects. And it is arguably the bargain of the century. For a few dollars you can tap into thousands of dollars of insights in executive-education classrooms - and if you happen to be a CEO or head of state, the savings will quickly run into the billions.

My only complaint about this book is that it wasn't written earlier. Finally, here's a guide to navigating the embarrassingly predictable mistakes we all tend to make when taking on life's biggest and most important projects. Unlike so many other books from self-proclaimed business gurus, How Big Things Get Done is not based on mere anecdotes; it distills decades of systematic research from more than 16,000 projects worldwide. The result is a crystal-clear pattern of surprising reasons why almost all big human projects fail to deliver as expected - and a road map for the book's lucky readers to avoid them.

"How Big Things Get Done" reveals tactics to complete any ambitious project on time and within budget. Learn how to plan slowly, act fast, be part of a team, master the unknown, and more. Examine errors in judgment and decision-making that lead to big and small projects failing. Read more...

In a new book, "How Big Things Get Done," Flyvbjerg and co-author Dan Gardner lay out steps they think will help policymakers (and even homeowners) avoid pitfalls that can set a project on the wrong course. Flyvbjerg spoke with The Washington Post about factors that can determine the fate of projects... Read more...

UK/BC: Macmillan ; Arabic: Jarir Bookstore ; Chinese (simpl.): PRH Beijing ; Chinese (compl.): Linking Publishing ; Danish: Dansk Psykologisk ; Greek: Athens Bookstore ; Japanese: Sunmark Publishing ; Korean: Korean Economics Daily & Business ; Polish: Wydawnictwo Naukowe ; Portuguese (Brazil): Citadel ; Romanian: Publica ; Spanish: Eidciones B ; Ukrainian: Vivat ; Vietnamese: Tre Publishing House

New York Times interview with Peter Coy in business/economics section Read more...

HOW BIG THINGS GET DONE is named to the SABEW Best in Business Book Awards shortlist!

Elon Musk, Jimi Hendrix and the ancient Greek thinker Aristotle all make appearances in a book out on Feb. 7 on the performance of megaprojects. Based mainly on the work of an academic at the U.K.'s Oxford University, "How Big things Get Done" is not a heavy tome but a pacy trot through the causes of project pitfalls and ways to avoid them. Read more...

Having researched the properties of planning errors, I am confident that nobody has studied the topic more broadly and deeply than Bent Flyvbjerg. His focus ranges from Olympic games to the renovation of your dog house.

reposted Inside Climate News interview: Why massive wind and solar projects will succeed where nuclear has failed... Read more...

... The economist Bent Flyvbjerg is also interested in deconstructing things, but he's focused on ambitious multi-million pound projects to find out why the vast majority are significantly over-budget and past their deadline. In How Big Things Get Done he extolls the virtue of 'thinking slow, acting fast', and how megaprojects that are designed with Lego-building in mind are more likely to succeed. Read more...

A wise, vivid, and unforgettable combination of inspiring storytelling with decades of practical research and experience... Everyone who deals with large projects is already desperate to read this book. The rest of us will take great pleasure in learning from it anyway.

In this episode of The Thinking Leader Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby talk with Bent Flyvbjerg, the world's leading megaproject expert, economic geographer, and the first BT Professor at Oxford University. They discuss the problem with big projects and small projects. They explore the 'iterate and simulate' process and how it can help navigate the early stages of a project. They discuss the psychology behind why we are hardwired to jump into projects without fully considering all potential risks and pitfalls... Read more...

Ignore [this book] at your peril.

Over-budget and over-schedule is an inevitability... Incompetence and grift is outrageous. Bent Flyvbjerg, with this terrific data-driven book, has shown that there is another way... In this moment where resources are growing more scarce, Bent is pointing toward a way of developing projects that uses our environmental, human, and financial resources in a more equitable and profitable way for society.

If we're to make it through these next few decades, we're going to have to build a lot of stuff - and we're going to have to do it cheaply and fast. Here's a very useful handbook!

Flyvbjerg's study of big construction projects worldwide has led him to formulate the iron law of megaprojects: over budget, over time, under benefits, over and over again. His deep understanding of why big projects fail - and occasionally succeed - makes this book a truly fascinating read. There's a practical pay-off, too: a toolbox with eleven smart heuristics for better project leadership that every planner who wants to succeed should know.

This book is important, timely, instructive, and entertaining. What more could you ask for?

The book explores the methods and strategies used to successfully plan, execute, and deliver large, complex projects such as infrastructure and transportation. It provides insights on how to overcome the common challenges and pitfalls that can occur in these types of projects. Read more...

A wise, vivid, and unforgettable combination of inspiring storytelling with decades of practical research and experience. Everyone who deals with large projects is already desperate to read this book. The rest of us will take great pleasure in learning from it anyway.