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 Bent Flyvbjerg

Projects are not goals in themselves. Projects are how goals are achieved. People don’t build skyscrapers, hold conferences, develop products, or write books for their own sakes. They do these things in order to accomplish other things.

first. Remove the words custom and bespoke from your vocabulary. They’re a desirable option for Italian tailoring if you can afford it, not for big projects.

To produce a reliable forecast, you need the outside view.

You need to get serious about gathering enough data to allow you to statistically analyze the distribution and determine if it’s normal or fat-tailed.

After the goal of the project has been decided and placed in the box on the right. After the plan has been developed using experiments, simulations, and experience. After accurate forecasts have been made, and risks mitigated, based on real-world performance of past projects. After all that, you have done your slow thinking and you have a plan worthy of the name. Now it’s time to act fast and deliver.