How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration
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Description
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 such successes are the exception. Consider how London’s 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 life’s work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg. 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 the errors that lead projects to fail, and the research-based principles that will make yours succeed.
Bent Flyvbjerg is the first BT Professor and inaugural Chair of Major Programme Management at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and the Villum Kann Rasmussen Professor and Chair in Major Program Management at the IT University of Copenhagen. He works for better leadership of programs in business and government. He is the most cited scholar in the world in project and program management and included on Stanford University’s prestigious Top 2% of most cited scholars in the world.
Flyvbjerg is also founder and co-founder of a dozen highly successful research groups, degree programs, and startups, latest at Oxford and ITU. His passion is to build new ventures from scratch, making them flourish academically, professionally, and commercially.
Additionally, he is a senior advisor to government and business around the world, including 10 Downing Street, the US and Chinese governments, and several Fortune 500 companies.