Access to new resource related to megaprojects and infrastructure added to PMWL
Resource provided by Victor Dantas
30 March 2022 – São Paulo, Brazil – Access to a new resource has been added to the PM World Library (PMWL) related to megaprojects management. The new resource is titled “Make megaprojects more modular”, a paper by Bent Flyvbjerg for Harvard Business Review November-December 2021 issue.
Mr. Flyvbjerg is a very experienced researcher, expert and consultant on megaprojects and, after more than 30 years of work, he concluded that two factors play a critical role in determining whether or not an organization will meet success in big projects: “replicable modularity in design and speed in iteration”. He argues that, however simple and logical modularity and faster iterations may sound (for instance, in the tech industry this would appear rather obvious), large corporations and governments still struggle to internalize and apply these features on their megaprojects. And that’s why most of their projects end up with cost overruns and beyond schedule.
The author takes as an example the construction of Tesla’s $5 billion Gigafactory 1 (Giga Nevada) near Reno, Nevada in the USA. The works began in 2014 and by late 2015, the first portion had been finished and already in operation; July 2016 saw the grand opening of the factory with 3 out of 21 blocks completed and in 2017 mass production of batteries was at full speed. The pace, according to the author, was quite the opposite of the expected in megaprojects, which usually begin operations several years after construction starts.
Bent then concludes: “First, the company lowered the risk of cost overruns, which tend to balloon as schedules drag on. Second, it began generating revenue within a year of deciding to go ahead with the project—much earlier than would have been the case had it used the conventional approach to megaprojects.”
To access this new resource, go to the Major Projects and Programs section of the library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/major-projects-programmes/, scroll down and click on “Megaprojects and Megaprograms”, scroll down to Articles. Must be a registered member and logged-in to access. If not yet a member, consider the 30-day FREE Trial Membership.
This new resource provided through the PMWL university research internship program; to learn more, click here
