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

Heuristics should never be used like thoughtless paint-by-numbers rules. Check whether my heuristics resonate with your own experience before using them in practice. Even more important, use them as a source of inspiration for investigating, trying new things, and developing your own heuristics—which is what really matters.

ASK “WHY?”

Asking why you’re doing your project will focus you on what matters, your ultimate purpose, and your result. This goes into the box on the right of your project chart. As the project sails into a storm of events and details, good leaders never lose sight of the ultimate result. “No matter where I am and what I’m doing in the delivery process,” noted Andrew Wolstenholme, the leader who delivered Heathrow’s Terminal 5 in chapter 8, “I check myself constantly by asking whether my present actions effectively contribute to the result on the right.” (See chapter 3.)

And so much more. Almost any nightmare you can imagine can happen—and has happened—during delivery. You want to limit your exposure to this. You do it by taking all the time necessary to create a detailed, tested plan. Planning is relatively cheap and safe; delivering is expensive and dangerous.

Your project is special, but unless you are doing what has literally never been done before—building a time machine, engineering a black hole—it is not unique; it is part of a larger class of projects.

Switching the focus from your project to the class your project belongs to will lead, paradoxically, to a more accurate understanding of your project.

A rider in the grueling three-week Tour de France bicycle race explained that participating is not about winning but about not losing, each day for twenty-one days. Only after that can you consider winning. Successful project leaders think like that; they focus on not losing, every day, while keeping a keen eye on the prize, the goal they are trying to achieve.

Aristotle defined phronesis as the dual ability to see what things are good for people and to get those things done.

The greatest threat Lasko faced wasn’t out in the world; it was in his own head, in his behavioral biases. This is true for every one of us and every project. Which is why your biggest risk is you.