How Big Things Get Done
How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardnerby Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner
Shares rank 7 of 12 management books by recommenders
Recommended for clear explanations of large project delivery, with an appendix of statistics for each project category.
Recommended for clear explanations of large project delivery, with an appendix of statistics for each project category.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Clearly explains large project concerns
“The book "How Big Things Get Done" by Bent Flyvbjerg nicely answers all the concerns mentioned in this thread.”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “Systems Thinking” “IMHO this is very well explained in "How Big Things Get Done"”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “NRC issues first U.S. construction permit for a BWRX-300 small modular reactor” Named as the go-to reference
“The book "How Big Things Get Done" by Bent Flyvbjerg nicely answers all the concerns mentioned in this thread.”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “Systems Thinking” “This is the right point to mention "How Big Things Get Done" by Bent Flyvbjerg.”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Doing the thing is doing the thing” “IMHO this is very well explained in "How Big Things Get Done"”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “NRC issues first U.S. construction permit for a BWRX-300 small modular reactor”
Other management books people recommend
The four most recommended other management books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Unaccountability Machineby Dan Davies | 11 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Turn the Ship Around!by L. David Marquet | 10 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Shape Upby Ryan Singer | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Team Topologiesby Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais | 5 | 3 | 63% | 4 | — | — |
| How Big Things Get Doneby Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan GardnerThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“IMHO this is very well explained in "How Big Things Get Done"”
“The book "How Big Things Get Done" by Bent Flyvbjerg nicely answers all the concerns mentioned in this thread.”
“This is the right point to mention "How Big Things Get Done" by Bent Flyvbjerg.”
“the book “how big things get done” is amazing”
“There's a great table in an appendix at the back of the book, offering statistics for each category of project”
“start small, modularize, and then scale”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.