How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration

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Hos os kan du handle som gæst, Saxo-bruger eller Saxo-medlem – du bestemmer selv. Skulle du få brug for hjælp, sidder vores kundeservice-team klar ved både telefonerne og tasterne. But it's much more than that. There are a good number of entertaining best and worse case examples to draw from, illustrating the cognitive biases, nasty surprises and misplaced hubris that high-flying project directors have faced, with everything from the Sydney Opera house to Terminal 5 of Heathrow making a guest appearance. Mr. Flyvbjerg identifies two common flaws in developing large-scale projects: inadequate planning and prolonged execution. Managers and politicians have a bias for action, he says, often treating planning as an annoyance that must be endured before the real work begins. Imposing tight deadlines for completion may end up adding costs and time, because the easiest way to craft a tighter schedule is to short-circuit the planning process. Rushed planning can result in problems that crop up later, generating delays that push up the cost. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.

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 payoff, too: a toolbox with eleven smart heuristics for better project leadership that every planner who wants to succeed should know." — Gerd Gigerenzer, psychologist, author of Gut Feelings

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Important, timely, instructive and entertaining’ – Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow The iron law of megaprojects states that large and complex projects almost always go over budget, over schedule, or both. Even small projects, like home renovations, are susceptible to cost overruns and time delays due to their complexity. The commitment fallacy is the tendency to continue investing in a failing project or decision simply because we have already put so much into it, which often leads to disastrous results. To avoid this fallacy, be realistic about the challenges and transparent about the costs and risks. The process of reverse engineering or thinking from right to left can help individuals and organizations break down daunting challenges and achieve audacious goals. And finally, the key to making big things happen is modularity, or breaking a big project down into smaller, more manageable pieces, and repeating a small thing over and over again until something huge is built. In total, only 8.5 percent of projects hit the mark on both cost and time. And a minuscule 0.5 percent nail cost, time, and benefits.”

Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow A wise, vivid and unforgettable combination of inspiring storytelling with decades of practical research and experience So, you're starting a big new project and wondering where to begin. Well, before you do so, consider this question: what's your Lego? It's the question that the world's most successful project leaders always ask themselves before embarking on something big. Tim Harford, bestselling author of How to Make the World Add Up Entertaining . . . compelling . . . there are lessons here for managers of all stripes Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures has been the life’s work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg, dubbed “the world’s leading megaproject expert.” In How Big Things Get Done, he and Dan Gardner identify 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. How Big Things Get Done is] a book that every legislator, city council member and corporate executive ought to read.” — The Wall Street Journal

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For anybody who's doing a project, first sit down and ask yourself: why are you doing the project? You need to have a very good answer to that question before you start so that you actually know precisely what the reasons are. Then, after you know that, you can start,” he says. This is where the iron law of megaprojects comes in. It explains that huge, complex endeavors like building a new airport or a high-speed rail line almost always go over budget, over schedule, or both. It turns out that only 8.5 percent of the 16,000 projects studied by the authors hit their targets for both cost and time. That's a staggering statistic! In this episode Emma de Vita speaks to Mike Bradley, a senior research associate at the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge; and Neil Smith, inclusive design lead for HS2 Ltd and one of the Mayor of London’s Design Advocates.

Adam Boddison, APM chief executive, meets Mark Thurston, CEO of Europe’s largest infrastructure project, HS2. The pair discuss the evolution of the project profession, areas for growth and the pressures associated with managing an era-defining megaproject. Why do big projects go wrong so often, and are there any lessons you can use when renovating your kitchen? Bent Flyvbjerg is the ‘megaproject’ expert and Dan Gardner brings the storytelling skills to How Big Things Get Done, with examples ranging from a Jimi Hendrix studio to the Sydney Opera House.”— Financial Times (Best Books of 2023 So Far)Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant, new reality. Think of how the Empire State Building went from a sketch to the jewel of New York’s skyline in twenty-one months, or how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to a product launch in eleven months. Har et parti i boka hvor han trekker frem et privat oppussingsprosjekt for å vise at dette er universelle prinsipper som gjelder for alle typer prosjekter. Får litt følelsen av at det er klemt inn for å gi den jevne leser noe å relatere til, men la gå.

A big project is the kind of thing that is not suited for fast thinking,” he says. “The fact that it is big means that it has big consequences… you actually need to think slow to be successful.”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 the Olympic Games to the renovation of your doghouse." — Nassim Nicholas Taleb, distinguished professor of risk engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and author of the Incerto series 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." — Frank Gehry, architect This book is important, timely, instructive, and entertaining.” — Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize–winning author of Thinking, Fast and Slow 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 the Olympic Games to the renovation of your doghouse.” —Nassim Nicholas Taleb, distinguished professor of risk engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and author of the Incerto series