How Big Things Get Done

Not my usual genre, but legitimately work related. This book does note that all the advice is scalable, so mega project, big project, small project...

This was pretty well presented, and obviously very data supported... in fact almost all data driven. While it was detailed, it was broken into sensible chapters, and built lesson onto lesson. There were loads of good example projects, and even if the reader failed to absorb any lesson, these were very interesting to read about.

The Sydney Opera House - a world renowned building, but it destroyed the career of its architect Jorn Utzon, who was fired from the project partway through construction - planned to take 5 years to build, it took 14 years, and came in 1400% over budget. Utzon was the scapegoat, Joe Cahill was the NSW Premier, and he wanted a legacy project in place for his retirement. He demanded construction began on time, despite the building design not being complete - they barely had an idea how to build it. They needed to dynamite sections and clear them away to start again! This one provides a series of good lessons, especially since it is world renowned and ultimately turned it failure into a success.

Not all the examples in this book are buildings (but they are the ones that interest me). Pixar Animation Studios are held up as a example of planning - a key lesson - plan your project as well as as extensively as you can. Solve as many of your problems as you can in advance of beginning. Because once you have started, that is when delays and problems cost the big money.

Not all the projects are doom and gloom stories - there are examples of success stories - the Empire State Building, Gehry's Guggenheim, T5 Heathrow Airport are some.

I won't attempt to summarise the book, but it does end with eleven take away rules (he calls them heuristics) for better project leadership. These are (for my benefit, not yours - I have to give the book back!) noted below. FYI I paraphrased a few of these...

Hire a masterbuilder - experience counts big time. It is worth paying up for expertise.
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.” Setting up a good, experienced team who will work together is a key.
Ask “why?” - asking why you are doing the project will focus you on what matters, your ultimate purpose and your result. Make sure you don't mistake your outcome with your why...
Build with Lego - this just means modular. Break your big thing into little things, that are preferably the same. Very applicable to solar, server farms, satellites etc and many building projects - schools, hospitals, etc where repetition occurs.
Think slow, act fast - time spent in planning, testing and preparing is significantly cheaper than time spent pausing construction to find answers. Prepare well then build quickly. The longer you build for, the more time for something to go wrong!
Take the outside view - your project is special, but very very rarely is it unique. Learn from the experiences of other similar projects - data is based on project class references.
Watch your downside - risk can kill your project, no upside can compensate this. Focus on not losing, every day, while keeping an eye on the prize - your goal.
Say no and walk away - at the outset, will the project have the people and funds necessary to succeed? If not, walk away.
Make friends and keep them friendly - keep diplomatic relations at all times, especially the good times - its risk management. If something goes wrong, it's too late to start developing bridges then!
Build climate mitigation into your project - no task is more urgent than mitigating the climate crisis. For greater good, and the good of your project.
Know that your biggest risk is you - self explanatory really. Projects fail because of leadership not taking on board the rules above.

I haven't read more of these types of management books to be able to compare, but this one had a good focus, and almost all the content was relevant to me. If for nothing else, the project stories are great.

4 stars.