Idea in Brief

The Context

A study of some 16,000 major projects—bridges, dams, power stations, rockets, railroads, information technology systems, and even the Olympic Games—reveals a massive project-management problem.

The Results

Only 8.5% of projects were delivered on time and on budget, while a mere 0.5% were completed on time and on budget and produced the expected benefits. In other words, 99.5% of large projects failed to deliver as promised.

The Outlier

Master architect Frank Gehry consistently defies those odds, producing projects of staggering beauty while meeting time and budget targets. Interviews with Gehry and his colleagues reveal four lessons, described here, for successfully managing big projects.

When the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, opened, in 1997, critics hailed Frank Gehry’s masterpiece as one of the architectural wonders of the past century. The provincial government’s ambitious projections had called for 500,000 people a year to make the trek to Bilbao to visit the museum; in the first three years alone, 4 million came. The term “Bilbao effect” was coined in urban planning and economic development to describe architecture so spectacular it could transform neighborhoods, cities, and regions.
A version of this article appeared in the January–February 2023 issue of Harvard Business Review.
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