A brisk building boom of hydropower mega-dams is underway from China to Brazil. Whether benefits of new dams will outweigh costs remains unresolved despite contentious debates. We investigate this question with the "outside view" or "reference class forecasting" based on literature on...

The academic literature and popular press has chronicled large IT project failures for the last 40 years. Two points of contention surround this debate. First, quantitative studies found mixed support of a wide-spread crisis, questioning the representativeness of failure cases. Second,...

Implementing large-scale information and communication technology (IT) projects carries large risks and easily might disrupt operations, waste taxpayers’ money, and create negative publicity. Because of the high risks it is important that government leaders manage the attendant risks. We...

A brisk building boom of hydropower mega-dams is underway from China to Brazil. Whether benefits of new dams will outweigh costs remains unresolved despite contentious debates. We investigate this question with the “outside view” or “reference class forecasting” based on literature on...

The Iron Triangle formulates the holy trinity of objectives of project management – cost, schedule, and benefits. As our previous research has shown, ICT projects deviate from their initial cost estimate by more than 10% in 8 out of 10 cases. Academic research has argued that Optimism Bias and...

Out-of-control information technology (IT) projects have ended the careers of top managers, such as EADS CEO Noël Forgeard and Levi Strauss’ CIO David Bergen. Moreover, IT projects have brought down whole companies, like Kmart in the US and Auto Windscreen in the UK. Software and other IT is...

This report reviewed the Edinburgh tram project’s risk management. Projects frequently overrun their cost and timelines and fall short of the intended benefits. Cost, schedule and benefit risk of projects need to be carefully considered to avoid this. Often project risks are underreported or...

This paper gives an overview of good and bad practice for understanding and curbing cost overrun in large capital investment projects, with a critique of Love and Ahiaga-Dagbui (2018) as point of departure. Good practice entails: (a) Consistent definition and measurement of overrun; in contrast...