Book Review: How Big Things Get Done

?

If you want to be a project manager, read this book. If you are a project manager, go read this book. It will scare you, and it should.?? Based on a critical analysis of 16,600 major programmes by Professor Brent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner.?

Key takeaways from my perspective:

?

• Startling statistics show how few projects are on budget and on time and deliver the promised benefits. All the people I asked what they thought the number was were wrong!
• Some great case studies are included (backed up with data) that emphasise the need to “think slow and act fast” and that planning is a creative process.
• A strong push towards the “Why?” of a project and the principle of thinking “right from left” (very much akin to the "Begin with the End in Mind" from @StephenCovey
• A good outline of the story of “Pixar planning” and how they storyboard the whole film and iterate (an average of eight times) before production starts.
• Emphasis on experience; as Aristotle said, “experience is the fruit of years”, and how (for example) Olympic events re-invent the wheel each time and have cost overruns on average of 157%. By the way, the Montreal Olympics were 720% over budget!!- OMG
• Avoiding “uniqueness bias” and taking an outside view of your project with a “reference class” approach but it also puts out the challenge of access to data. Reference Class is a method of estimating the likely budget overrun based on comparator projects.
• One chapter challenges the “survivor bias” in that we remember those success stories that someone delivered - because we don’t like to remember failure.
• Blow away the fog in the planning process with the principle of “do it on the drafting table rather than the construction site”
• The value of teams is described with Heathrow Terminal 5 (2001) being examined, touching on leadership/team dynamics, Andy Wolstenholme said “we spent quite a lot of money developing team dynamics”. However, the cost of this is nothing when compared to the cost of an overrun (in the order of $1Bn + time).
• However, many readers will be aware that there were several operational issues experienced post-construction; an outline of the case study can be found here (https://sfuheathrowcase.wordpress.com/).? This leads to the importance of realising the benefits of the Operational Readiness and Airport Transition (ORAT) process.? It is interesting that the word "collaboration" includes the ORAT acronym.? Thanks to Michelle Treanor for this insight.? Watch out for a future article on the value of simulation in this context.

?

#Purposedrivenleadership is introduced around the idea of a single shared goal. Everyone on the team had a shared purpose, and it did matter that you worked for T5.? This was demonstrated by how the workforce was engaged and not just consulted; they set the standards rather than imposed them upon them. This approach ensures ownership and buy-in.? From my experience, if a team feels that they own the standards, they will police and enforce them far more effectively than any “top-down” approach.

I love the Lego analogy (and to my American friends, there is no “s” at the end of Lego; it covers both the singular and the plural.? I have discussed the Lego principle before. The key is understanding how to make your project modular.? It is the essence of systems thinking (which springs from critical thinking). Good examples are shown in the author’s project building schools in Nepal.

The book wraps up with a coda or heuristics (rules or mental shortcuts) to assist us on a routine and systematic basis.

This is a great, well-referenced book and is now on my “must-read” list for Project Leadership and development.

?Although I have included the Amazon link, please support your local bookstore where possible. https://amzn.eu/d/0e5Kg0IJ

?

#Leadershipforabettertomorrow

#Purposefuldrivenleadership