Foreword

Chapter 1  The challenge

A litany of project failure

The emergence of project management

The challenge of uncertainty and complexity

What this book is about

Mindful practices: our case companies

References

Chapter 2  Archetypes of project resilience

A ‘project’ without parallels

Two principal modes of project management revisited

Mindfulness and project management

References

Chapter 3  The art of noticing

The lure of normality

Normalcy bias

Hindsight bias

Observational selection bias

Temporal discounting

Key enablers to the art of noticing

Leading the art of noticing

The illusion of asymmetric insight

Shared information bias

The impact of noticing on relationships

Mindful practices

Kodak – a failure of noticing

Towards an art of noticing

References

Chapter 4  The art of interpreting

The lure of simplicity

Optimism bias

Anchoring

Loss aversion

Key enablers to the art of interpreting

Mindful practices: risk interdependencies

Mindful practices: maintaining and retaining knowledge

Leading the art of interpreting

Overconfidence effect

Mindful practices: project management software

False consensus effect

The impact of interpreting on relationships

Deepwater horizon – a failure of interpreting

Towards an art of interpreting

References

Chapter 5  The art of preparing

The lure of the fail-safe

Planning fallacy

Bandwagon effect

Automation bias

Key enablers to the art of preparing

Mindful practices: the power of empowerment

Leading the art of preparing

Mindful practices: training

Reactance

Self-serving bias

The impact of preparing on relationships

Mindful practices: establishing long-term commitment

Mindful practices: winning hearts and minds

Space Shuttle Columbia – a failure of preparing

Towards an art of preparing

References

Chapter 6  The art of containing

The lure of control

Illusion of control

Status quo bias

Sunk-cost fallacy

Key enablers to the art of containing

Mindful practices: spontaneity through improvisation

Leading the art of containing

Authority bias

Mindful practices: a ‘just’ culture

The impact of containing on relationships

Mindful practices: organisational identification and belonging

Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey – a success of containing?

Towards an art of containing

References

Chapter 7  The art of recovering

The lure of a ‘great escape’

Ostrich effect

Hindsight bias

Key enablers to recovering

Mindful practices: Tiger Teams

Leading the art of recovering

Just-world hypothesis

Restraint bias

Law of triviality

Mindful practices: challenging ways of working

The impact of recovering on relationships

Hyperbolic discounting

Negativity bias

Apple – a success of recovering

Towards an art of recovering

References

Chapter 8  Roads to resilience

A road map

Balancing rule-based and Mindfulness-based project resilience

Rocks on the road to resilience

Toolkit: scenario planning and premortem

Mindful practices: our case companies

Outlook

References

Index