From Vision to Reality: Navigating Project Success with Insights from 'How Big Things Get Done'

I just finished?How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between?by?Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg?and?Dan Gardner, two?experts on global megaprojects. Financial Times nominated it for one of the best business books of 2023. Drawing data on thousands of public projects across all sectors, the authors highlight factors that underpin successful projects of all sizes: the importance of meticulous planning ("Think slow, act fast"), fostering cohesive teams, and mastering the unforeseen challenges that inevitably arise.

The lessons from Pixar's blockbusters, Apple's iPod launch, and the construction of the Empire State Building in just 18 months can similarly be applied to the implementation of IT systems. Salesforce's most successful customers, like?Heathrow Airport?and PenFed (both?highlighted?on the recent earnings call), excel at the factors highlighted in the book.

Here are my principal takeaways:

Define Success, and with the Right Anchor

Chapter three,?Think From Right To Left, is so titled because of the need to start with the end in mind. Why are we doing this project? How will we know if it's successful? Speaking at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in 1997, Steve Jobs told the audience, "You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards for the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to try to sell it. And I made this mistake probably more than anybody else in this room."?That?is "Right to Left" thinking.

On the "right side," projects should have defined measures of success in which all parties are aligned. The measures - including costs, benefits, and timeline - must be grounded in appropriate anchors.

The authors tell a story about working with the board of the Guangzhou–Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) during their construction of a 26-km underground high-speed rail between Hong Kong and mainland China. The initial timeline was ambitious - too ambitious - especially for such a gargantuan undertaking with significant "black swan" risk. Inevitably, when the delays occurred,?people blamed the delivery of the project rather than the original forecast.

The mistake the planners made was basic: "When we experience delays and cost overruns, we naturally go looking for things that are slowing the project down and driving up costs. But those delays and overruns are measured against benchmarks. Are the benchmarks reasonable?" The railway's success was doomed from the beginning by a large underestimate of costs and time.

Thus, the essence of steering a project to success lies not just in meticulous planning and execution, but fundamentally in?setting realistic and achievable benchmarks. This simple yet profound shift in perspective can potentially transform the narrative from a tale of overruns and delays to a story of triumph and accomplishment, grounded in reality and aligned with genuine progress.

Think Slow, Act Fast: Planning, Process, and People

In constructing London Heathrow's Terminal 5, slated for unveiling in 2008, BAA employed a "think slow, act fast" mentality. This project was not merely an infrastructural achievement but a shining testament to what meticulous planning, innovative processes, and a dedicated workforce can accomplish.

At the outset, rigorous planning was the cornerstone of their strategy. The utilization of "minute-stones" instead of milestones paved the way for a detailed orchestration. At 4 AM on the scheduled opening, all the coffee needed to be hot, bookshelves stocked, gates operational, and safety systems functioning. Detailed computerized digital renderings supported this planning phase.

Following the planning, the project adopted a "design for manufacture and assembly" process approach. Terminal 5 transitioned from being a construction site to an assembly hub where pre-tested parts were seamlessly integrated, similar to software companies' test-and-release cadence.

Lastly, the pivotal role of people cannot be understated. The project thrived on a culture where individuals were "united, empowered, and mutually committed to accomplishing something worthwhile", facilitating immediate escalations and fostering a synergistic environment. Project leaders broke down physical and communication silos, even flagging potential delays immediately to supplier and vendor CEOs.

Heathrow Airport - which today welcomes 70 million passengers a year - is focused as much on their digital experiences as it is on their physical experience. "The scale of the airport and the services provided, from transport and parking to retail and security, means that having a single source of truth across the organization is essential, particularly as customers are demanding more from their digital experiences. Salesforce makes this possible,”?explained Peter Burns, Director Marketing & Digital at Heathrow.

India's recent Chandrayaan-3 moon landing illustrates the immense potential of adopting a similar strategy but in the realms of space exploration. The Wall Street Journal covered India's?Moonshot Heard Round the World, noting how their first Mars orbiter in 2014 came with a lower price tag than the 2015 Hollywood blockbuster “The Martian." It also landed on the moon for less than it costs Hollywood to make movies about the moon.?Operating under a budget constraint, India showed the world how?experience and focus?could be leveraged ingeniously, carving a pathway of success marked by incremental advancements and lessons absorbed from previous missions.

The strategy echoed the essence of "Jugaad", a Hindi term embodying frugal and unconventional ingenuity, a cornerstone in India's space program. This culture of resourceful problem-solving was mirrored in the meticulous planning phase seen at Heathrow, where each move was calculated based on a rich history of experiences and creative solutions.

Furthermore, similar to Terminal 5's assembly-centric approach, India’s space program demonstrated innovation and cost-effectiveness at every stage. Each mission component was carefully designed, tested, and implemented, maximizing efficiency and deriving the best value from limited resources. Paradoxically, these financial constraints didn't hinder their efforts but instead fueled their innovative spirit.

Like the united workforce that powered Heathrow's Terminal 5 construction, the Indian space agency cultivated a passionate and focused team fighting to be just the fourth nation to land on the lunar surface. Prioritizing a handful of projects allowed them to execute with vigor and dedication once a meticulously devised plan was in place. Many small steps eventually led to one giant leap. Which brings us to the last principle...

Why Modularity Matters

Based on their rigorously collected dataset, the project types with the most success were solar, energy transmission, wind power, pipelines and roads. Those with the highest cost overruns were nuclear storage (238%), the Olympic Games (157%), and nuclear power (120%). What sets the outperforming project types apart? The answer lies in their inherent?modularity. Unlike nuclear power plants, which are seldom constructed, characterized by extensive build periods, and deliver value only upon complete construction,?modular projects pave the way for immediate value derivation. A solar panel, which is relatively simple to construct, starts adding value instantly, even before additional panels integrate into the system - a principle that holds true for road and highway construction. Other examples of modularity include hotel rooms, data centers with stacks and rows of servers, and wedding cakes.

The authors highlight an engagement with the government of Nepal, which aimed to modernize its national education system. The key to this project - like all large projects - was to break it down into smaller pieces. They advised on constructing new classrooms in limited, pre-defined layouts. Those new classrooms became part of a school. New schools became part of a district, and upgraded districts became part of a system to educate hundreds of thousands of children.

These projects showcase a blueprint where the intricacies of the?mega tasks are broken down into smaller, manageable parts,?fostering efficiency and limiting downside risk with repeatable processes. Large visions are broken down into incremental phases of planning, implementing, reviewing, and enhancing. This repetitive cycle, akin to the iterative process in the technology sector known as user acceptance testing (UAT), guarantees that each module is tested and affirmed before it goes live, creating a robust system resistant to failure. Click, click. Launch. Repeat.

Salesforce's own data architecture enables customers to quickly go-live with out-of-the-box industry-specific functionality, and then deliver incremental capabilities for more narrowly defined use-cases. For example, a recent partnership?announced in August?will integrate Pershing X’s wealth management platform,?Wove, with the Salesforce Platform and be available on the?AppExchange?for?Financial Services Cloud?customers. This modularity concept inherent in the platform also?helped accelerate RBC Wealth Management's time to value.

Project success hinges on careful planning and the ability to oversee all aspects of the project, big or small.?How Big Things Get Done?gives readers an in-depth look at the factors that can ensure success, from assembling a committed team, to accounting for unpredictable challenges. Projects as large as the Hoover Dam and as small as a kitchen renovation have employed these principles to drive successful outcomes. By incorporating what we have learned from this book into our planning process, we can de-risk projects and increase our rate of success.