How Big Things Get Done

Best Books of the Year â" The Financial Times and The Economist
Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award

World expert Bent Flyvbjerg and bestselling author Dan Gardner reveal the secrets to successfully planning and delivering ambitious projects on any scale.

âImportant, timely, instructive and entertainingâ â" Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow

Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant new reality. Think of how Appleâs iPod went from a project with a single employee to an enormously successful product launch in eleven months. But such successes are the exception. Consider how Londonâs Crossrail project delivered five years late and billions over budget. More modest endeavours, 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 lifeâs work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg. In How Big Things Get Done, he identifies the errors that lead projects to fail, and the research-based principles that will make yours succeed:

• Understand your odds. If you donât know them, you wonât win.
• Plan slow, act fast. Getting to the action quick feels right. But itâs 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.
• Master the unknown unknowns. Most think they canât, so they fail. Flyvbjerg shows how you can.

Full of vivid examples ranging from the building of the Sydney Opera House to the making of the latest Pixar blockbusters, How Big Things Get Done reveals how to get any ambitious project done â" on time and on budget.

'Entertaining . . . compelling . . . there are lessons here for managers of all stripes' â" The Economist
'My only complaint about this book is that it wasnât written earlier' â" Ola Rosling, bestselling co-author of Factfulness