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book2023

How Big Things Get Done

Disciplines:
economics
product management/project management
urban planning
flyvbjerg

Summary

Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner's 2023 account of why large projects go over budget and schedule — and what the rare successful megaprojects have in common — covering the Pixar method, modularity, and thinking from the right to the left.

Core Contribution

Identifies the pattern of successful megaprojects — Flyvbjerg's research shows that the projects that succeed are those that spend more time planning (think slow, act fast), use modular designs, and draw on reference class forecasting rather than optimistic projections.

Historical Influences

Bent Flyvbjerg Project management research

Intellectual Lineage

Bent Flyvbjerg Currency Books

Allied Works

The Power Broker

Contemporaries & Peers

The Power Broker Thinking in Bets

Minds Influenced

Project management practiceLenny's Podcast

Intellectual Posterity

How Big Things Get Done Reference class forecasting

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How Big Things Get Done

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