The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The book, ` How Big Things Get Done’ by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner which was published this year in February. It explains why many projects fail (go over budget, time or are never finished) and what strategies exist to make projects less likely to fail.
BOOK | THE INDEPENDENT | The book’s focus (and examples) is mainly the infrastructure megaprojects field (building bridges, tunnels, museums, etc.) but the insights can be applied to all sorts of projects, even small ones.
The book essentially summarizes the experience and research of both authors over many years in an engaging way (it’s an anecdote dense book!)
Should you read this book? Do I recommend the book?
While the book contains several insights from (empirical) research, it’s not an academic book / handbook. If you’re looking for a highly “fact-dense” book then I would perhaps suggest reading `Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings’ or the `The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management’ instead.
However, if you want to get a fresh perspective from what most project management books talk about (despite having read several books on project management I came across lots of new things on this book), read about the interface between project management and forecasting, hear from several real-life examples (ranging from the Sydney Opera House to the recording studio of Jimi Hendrix: Electric Lady Studios), then I think you’ll enjoy this book and learn quite a few things (I certainly did). I recommend the book to people particularly interested in improving their project planning skills.
One of the co-authors, Bent Flyvbjerg, is an economic geographer and the chairman of the Oxford Global Projects, a project management consultancy specialising in megaproject management among many other things. Dan’s background is in history, law and journalism. He’s probably best known in the EA community as the co-author of `Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction’ (2015) with Philip Tetlock.
Lessons
Understand how much personal psychology vs. strategic misrepresentation affects decisions in your project. Flag strategic misrepresentation when you see it. Any project moves along an axis of “Low politics” to “High politics”. Low politics means low-stakes, no or little “power games”, no manipulation for own’s self-benefit/interest, no competition for scarce resources, absence of powerful individuals.
High politics is the contrary of the above. Usually, the larger the project, the more high politics it gets and vice versa. The main reasons for poor and/or rushed decision-making during a project is greatly influenced by where the project is on this axis. Low politics: Individual psychology is usually to be blamed for poor decision-making. High politics: Strategic misrepresentation is usually to be blamed.
