There are countless project management tools on offer, but the flashiest tool can't save something that was planned poorly from the beginning. Starting on 2023-05-12, Scope of Work's Reading Group is working through How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors that Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything in Between by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner. The book unpacks the project management decisions that determine success or failure and offers practical frameworks for scoping and executing ambitious work. Flyvbjerg is an emeritus professor at Oxford University and a megaproject expert with a keen analysis of how fallacies cloud our planning capacities. Gardner is an investigative journalist and author who specializes in psychology, risk, and decision-making.
Each Friday, we meet on Zoom to discuss a few chapters and chat throughout the week on Slack, expanding the discussion and sharing related readings. We're looking forward to hosting a discussion with Bent Flyvbjerg when we wrap up the book in June.
Members of Scope of Work can join the conversation in the #community-reading-groups channel on Slack – and follow along with the book themselves starting on 2023-05-12.
