How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner

The World’s Best Guide to Planning and Delivering Successful Projects

About the Book

How Big Things Get Done is a powerful, research-backed guide that explains why most projects go over budget, miss deadlines, and fail to deliver results, and exactly what you can do to make yours succeed. Written by Oxford professor and world-leading megaproject expert Bent Flyvbjerg, this book turns decades of hard data into clear, practical lessons for anyone who wants to get things done right.

From the Back Cover

Most big projects fail. This book shows you why, and gives you the tools to be part of the rare few who actually succeed. Whether you are planning a kitchen renovation or managing a billion-dollar infrastructure project, the lessons inside will change the way you think about every goal you set.

About the Author

Bent Flyvbjerg is the first BT Professor at Oxford University and is recognized by global accounting network KPMG as the world’s leading megaproject expert. He has consulted on over one hundred projects costing one billion dollars or more, has been knighted by the Queen of Denmark, and serves as an advisor to governments and Fortune 500 companies around the world.  His co-author, Dan Gardner, is a New York Times bestselling author whose work on psychology and decision-making has been published in over 25 countries.

Who Is This Book For?

This book is a must-read for project managers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, students, and anyone who has ever tried to get a big goal across the finish line without everything going sideways. If you plan, build, lead, or create anything at any scale, the lessons in this book are directly relevant to your work and your life.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: What is How Big Things Get Done about? How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg explores the surprising reasons why most major projects fail and provides data-driven strategies to help readers plan and deliver any project successfully. It covers everything from small business launches to massive public infrastructure, making it relevant to a very wide audience.

Q2: Is this book only useful for large project managers? Not at all. While the book uses megaprojects as examples, the principles inside apply to any ambitious project, whether you are launching a small business, organizing a conference, or finishing a work project on time. The strategies scale down just as well as they scale up.

Q3: What are the key lessons from How Big Things Get Done? The book teaches readers to understand their odds before starting, to plan slowly before acting fast, to think from right to left by starting with the end goal, to find modular building blocks for complex problems, and to master the unknown risks that most people ignore. Each lesson is backed by real-world case studies and decades of research.

Q4: Is How Big Things Get Done worth reading in 2024 and beyond? Absolutely. The book was named a Best Book of the Year by the Economist and the Financial Times, and was shortlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award. It distills decades of systematic research from more than sixteen thousand projects worldwide, making it one of the most credible and practical project management books ever written.