Overview
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āThis book is important, timely, instructive, and entertaining. What more could you ask for?āāDaniel Kahneman, Nobel Prizeāwinning author of Thinking, Fast and Slow
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āOver-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.āāFrank Gehry
Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant, newĀ reality. Think of how the Empire State Building went from a sketch to the jewel of New Yorkās skyline in twenty-one months, or how Appleās iPod went from a project with a single employee to a product launch in eleven months.
These are wonderful stories. But most of the time big visions turn into nightmares. Remember Bostonās āBig Digā? Almost every sizeable city in the world has such a fiasco in its backyard. In fact, no less than 92% of megaprojects come in over budget or over schedule, or both. The cost of Californiaās high-speed rail project soared from $33 billion to $100 billonāand wonāt even go where promised. More modest endeavors, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, also commonly fail. Why?
Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures has been the lifeās work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg, dubbed āthe worldās leading megaproject expert.ā 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:
ā¢ Understand your odds. If you donāt know them, you wonāt win.
ā¢ Plan slow, act fast. Getting to the action quick feels right. But itās wrong.Ā
ā¢ Think right to left. Start with your goal, then identify the steps to get there.
ā¢ Find your Lego. Big is best built from small.
ā¢ Be a team maker. You wonāt succeed without an āus.ā
ā¢ Master the unknown unknowns. Most think they canāt, so they fail. Flyvbjerg shows how you can.
ā¢ Know that your biggest risk is you.
Full of vivid examples ranging from the building of the Sydney Opera House, to the making of the latest Pixar blockbusters, to a home renovation in Brooklyn gone awry, How Big Things Get Done reveals how to get any ambitious project doneāon time and on budget.
This book title, 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), ISBN: 9780593239513, by Bent Flyvbjerg, Dan Gardner, published by Crown (February 7, 2023) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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