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How Big Things Get Done
- The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
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How Big Things Get Done
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Summary
Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant new reality. Think of how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to an enormously successful product launch in eleven months. But they are the exception. Consider how London’s Crossrail project delivered five years late and billions overbudget. 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 life’s 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 don't know them, you won't win.
- Plan slow, act fast. Getting to the action quick feels right. But it's 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 can't, 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—on time and on budget.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic reviews
"A wise, vivid, and unforgettable combination of inspiring storytelling with decades of practical research and experience." (Tim Harford, bestselling author of How to Make the World Add Up)
"My only complaint about this book is that it wasn’t written earlier. It distills decades of systematic research from thousands of projects. The result is a crystal-clear pattern of surprising reasons why almost all big human projects fail to deliver as expected." (Ola Rosling, bestselling co-author of Factfulness)
"The best scientific advice on project planning. It is arguably the bargain of the century. For a few dollars you can tap into thousands of dollars of insights in executive-education classrooms." (Philip Tetlock, bestselling co-author of Superforecasting)
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What listeners say about How Big Things Get Done
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- Mr. J. Ambler
- 18-12-23
So good I bought the hard cover
I’m not a seasoned project manager, but am heavily involved in them now. This book could have saved much sanity and sleep in my latest project- and will in my next!
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- Anonymous User
- 20-03-24
Very informative
Doing small things again and again, but doing them very good each time. A lot gained from listening to this book
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-01-24
Lost a start for having helped plan HS2.
A lot of interesting ideas and examples about the relationship between planning, action and testing. It was a useful book and I feel like I can use this in future planning projects, especially in the budgeting section and risk management. I feel like I understand risk management better having listened to this book.
On the downside, there was a significant section about how the author was brought in to help identify the risks for HS2 and the potential over runs and over budget. Maybe should have included a section around how this could all be then destroyed by governmental factors.
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1 person found this helpful
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- SH
- 05-07-23
For the builders
Common sense wisdom for project delivery. Light on jargon, strong on data. For project people and product people.
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- Oscar D.
- 18-08-23
Great book
it just lays out very well stuff that should be obvious and provides greater insight
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amanda Moore
- 25-01-24
Experience knowledge and the bottom line from an authority with evidence base
Just very relevant and thought provoking well worth a listen. 15,000 projects database not eyewash but the reality.
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- Ahsan Raza
- 13-06-23
This book will let you find your lego!
Most books I have read in the past on project management and project delivery were not easy to read. They contained an awful lot of theory and very dizzying tables.
However, “How Big Things Get Done” is different. The authors, Professor Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner seemingly have a great grasp on the art of storytelling. They compile their personal experiences of delivering big projects and other examples of very famous successful and failed projects in the form of powerful interesting stories. They are more like super tour guides who not only got stories but also very acute detail of the monument's design, behind the scene politics, tragedies and joys. And most importantly, learnings.
There are many moments in the book that are my favourite and would let me go back to the certain chapters, again and again. But the most sensational one is the Danish government's project to build 20,000 schools in Nepal. This was a mega-project delivered on time, in budget, and surpassed all expectations. Schools were built by breaking the project into small chunks and learning and improving through those modular deliveries. This was Professor Bent Flyvbjerg first mega-project and he writes in detail about this in an article in his LinkedIn.
A beautiful feature of this project was that schools were built earthquake-proof. Due to continuous learning and improvement aspects of the project, people involved learned that it is quite possible to include security as part of the design from outset cheaply. It saved lives of kids in these school in 2015 deadly earthquake in Nepal.
Yes, delivering projects in the right way not only saves money and time, but also, can save lives too.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Berrylan
- 19-11-23
Wow. I needed to hear this.
Thank you so much for these insights. I listened to this book at the exact right time heading into a small part of a mega project.
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- MSN
- 21-09-23
Very enlightening
Very enlightening condensation of what makes big projects more likely to succeed. Well written and delivered
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2 people found this helpful
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- MR J D WITT
- 03-01-24
Fantastic really engaging
Loved the content, the narration and the examples. A perfect non-fiction audiobook! And it has made me think a great deal about how I tackle projects and my framing of their steps to achievement and costs. Also, a very good read for those in the investment community.
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