To read the full PDF version (TBD)

To listen to the full audio version (TBD)

To purchase and/or read additional reviews, see Amazon page here

What do I love about: How Big Things Get Done?

I love this book because it is reflective of all types of projects. From kitchen renovation to government projects to corporation projects. The authors provide multiple examples to support their position. The authors also do a great job in presenting the counter arguments and demonstrating why it may be a wrong position.

What do I not love about: How Big Things Get Done?

Zilch

Who should read: How Big Things Get Done?

Everyone especially anyone engaging in any form of project management.

Who should not read: How Big Things Get Done?

No idea

Notes about How Big Things Get Done?

Chapter 1: Think Slow, Act Fast

• Think fast, act slow is a hallmark of failed projects.
• Think slow (planning), Act fast (delivery) to prevent Black swan from getting in the way.
• Psychology and power drive projects at all scales, from skyscrapers to kitchen renovations.
• Black swan are low probability, high consequences events.
• The more time passes from decision to delivery, the greater the probability of one or more black swans happening.
• The need for speed- set severe timelines, get started right away, and demand that everyone involved work at a furious pace. Drive and ambition are key, goes the conventional wisdom. If experienced observers think a project will take two years, say you will do it in one. Commit to the project, heart and soul, and charge ahead. And in managing others, be fierce. Demand that everything be done yesterday.
• Not only is it safer for planning to be slow, but it is also good for planning to be slow.
• Projects do not go wrong so much as they start wrong.

Chapter 2: The Commitment Fallacy

• Purposes and goals are not carefully considered. Alternatives are not explored difficulties and risks are not investigated. Solutions are not found.
• Lock-in as scholars refer to it, is the notion that although there maybe alternatives, most people and organization behave as if they have no choice but to push on, even past the point where they put themselves at more cost or risk than they would have accepted.
• The common denominator of any projects is that people are making decisions about it. And wherever there are people, there are psychology and power.
• We are a deeply optimistic species, that makes us an overconfident species.
• My key heuristics for managing optimism on projects “ you want the flight attendant, not the pilot, to be an optimist. What you need from your pilot, and must insist in, is hard-nosed analysis that sees reality as clearly as possible.
• It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s law
• For us to be consistently wrong, we must consistently ignore experience.
• Estimates are not intended to be accurate; they are intended to sell the project.
• We should be careful not to see psychology and politics as separate forces; they are mutually reinforcing and typically are in big projects.

Chapter 3: Think From Right to Left

• Projects are not goals in themselves. Projects are how goals are achieved.
• Developing a clear, informed understanding of what the goal is and why-and never losing sight of it from the beginning to end-is the foundation of a successful project.
• Understand why you are doing a project (what the goals are and why).

Chapter 4: Pixar Planning

• Repetition is the mother of learning.
• I have not failed 10,000 times, I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.
• Planning should be slow and rigorous.
• When a minimum viable product approach isn’t possible, try a “maximum virtual product”.

Chapter 5: Are you Experienced.

• Age reflects time and time reflects experience.
• The desire to do what has not been done can be admirable, for sure. But it can also be deeply problematic.
• The less proven something is the more it must be tested.
• If there is a design- or a system, Process or technique- that has delivered many times before, use it, or tweak it, or mix-and-match it with similarly proven designs. Use off-the-shelf technologies. Hire experienced people. Rely on the reliable. Don’t gamble if you can avoid it. Don’t be the first. Remove the word custom and bespoke from your vocabulary. They are desirable option for Italian tailoring if you can afford it, not for big projects.
• A good plan is one that maximizes experience or experimentation; a great plan is one that does both.

Chapter 6: So You Think Your Project is Unique?

• To create a successful project estimate, you must get the anchor right.
• You are absolutely unique, just like everyone else.
• In terms of estimates, a good anchor is Reference Class Forecasting (RCF) as opposed to anchoring and adjustment.
• Delivery is when things go horribly and expensively wrong. Exhaustive planning that enables swift delivery, narrowing the time window that black swans can crash through, is an effective means of mitigating the risk.
• A little neglect may breed great mischief.

Chapter 7: Can Ignorance Be Your Friend

• Do not overestimate benefit and underestimate cost.
• Projects that run into trouble and end in miserable failure are soon forgotten because most people aren’t interested in miserable failures; projects that run into trouble but persevere and become a smash successes are remembered and celebrated.
• In social sciences, survivorship bias is the common mistake of noting only those things that made it through some selection process while overlooking those that didn’t. Someone could note, for example that Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of university and conclude that a key to success in information technology is to leave school.
• Optimism bias is the most significant of the cognitive biases.
• Avoid being the first, prototype and planning through experimentation.

Chapter 8: A Single, Determined Organism

• Acting fast in delivery takes more than a strong plan; you need an equally strong team.

Chapter 9: What’s Your Lego

• Make projects modular to reduce the risk of fat-tailed.
• Modularity is a clunky word for the elegant idea of big things made from small things.
• The core of modularity is repetition. Repetition is the mother of learning.
• Manufacturing in a factory and assembling on-site is far more efficient than traditional construction because a factory is a controlled environment designed to be as efficient, linear and predictable as possible.
• Only five projects are not fat tailed- solar power, wind power, fossil thermal power, electricity transmission and roads. They do not have a considerable risk of going disastrously wrong.

11 Heuristics for better project leadership

Heuristics are frugal rule of thumb used to simplify complex decisions. They are mental shortcuts used to reduce complexity, making decisions manageable.

1. Hire a MasterBuilder: You want someone with deep domain experience and a proven track record of success in whatever you are doing whether it is a home renovation, wedding or IT project.
2. Get your team right: Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right, chances are they will get the ideas right.
3. Ask “Why”
4. Build with Lego: Big is best from small.
5. Think Slow; Act Fast; Good planning boosts the odds of a quick, effective delivery, keeping the window on risk small and closing it as soon as possible.
6. Take the outside view: gather data, and gather from all the experiences those numbers represent by making reference class forecast.
7. Watch your downside: Risk can kill you or your projects.
8. Say No and Walk Away: Saying no is essential for staying focused.
9. Make friends and keep them friendly.
10. Build climate mitigation into your project.
11. Know that your biggest risk is YOU