Start small to go big...or go overbudget trying; less IS more when you analyse large and complex projects

If you want to make global impact, then you have to think big. Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg is someone who has spent more time than most, thinking big - mega even. I find his work a fascinating touchstone for my own work with leaders and organisations, especially the ones who need to compete where it's big and complex. Thanks to a recent Sydney Business Insights event, I got brought up to speed on his most recent work "How big things get done", looking at the common failure points and success factors behind over 16,000 major global projects.

Unsurprisingly, it's hard to distil such figuratively large wisdom into one post, but I was heartened by the discussion (which you can view here, for free) which highlighted the nuanced similarities between 'start up' thinking and the most successful mega-projects in the world; a dedicated focus on finding the key components of what your customer really values.

Only with a sharpened approach to determining the most effective inputs and how you can best configure them (ideally in a repeatable way), can you be completely effective in allocating resources and satisfying stakeholders.

It turns out, that if you want to consistently go big without failure...you need to understand the smallest and most repeatable ways to do it. Personally, I find it rewarding work to help leaders constructively challenge the existing business structures and processes, to really embrace this methodology. Intriguingly, this applies just as much to the creative industries, as Prof. Flyvbjerg discusses at approx. the 25-minute mark.

The catch? Boiling your organisational activities down to their essence...takes more time. Specifically, upfront investments in effective planning and considered decision making. And it's also not easy; there's a whole lot of cognitive biases and fallacies to beguile you and your colleagues - keep following for plenty more chat about them!

I see a convergence with Prof Flyvbjerg's latest work, my own previous impassioned plea for more 'prototyping' and this extremely useful article by Australian HR Institute (AHRI) (featuring the ever articulate and salient Nina Spiccia) towards a new 'core competency' for all leaders: developing highly collaborative and neatly streamlined ways of working for their teams - regardless of their own position in the heirarchy. It's not a novel concept, but the imperative is greater than ever.

We all want to get big things done...let's take the time together, to figure out all the important pieces that build it better.