Stevens, M (2013) Book review, Australasian Journal of Construction Economics and Building, 13 (1) 106  
 

106 

Book Review 
Managing Giga Projects: Advice from Those Who’ve Been There, 
Done That 
 
Galloway, P. D .,Kris, P. E., Nielsen, R., and  Dignum, j. L., ASCE Press, Reston, Virginia, 2013, 
ISBN 978-0-7844-1238-1 (Hard cover, 480 pp) USD 120, E-book (Forthcoming) ISBN 978-0-
7844-7693-2 USD120.00 (PDF) . 

 
 
The objective of this book is to discuss construction management aspects of expectations, 
complexity, risk and effective reactions to bad luck in “giga” projects ($10 billion+). The 
contributing authors represent financiers, owners, program managers, consultants, designers, 
contractors, and legal counsel who have extensive experience with these projects. 
 
While most construction managers may never work with projects of this magnitude, the issues 
presented and the discussions that follow are applicable to any size project. It addresses how to 
minimize the negative consequences of uncontrollable events such as credit crises, 
governmental actions or latent ground conditions.  
 
The book is comprised of twenty project case studies, from globally diverse places such as the 
United Kingdom, Brazil, China, Australia, and the United States. In the first part, lessons learned 
and best management practices are discussed. The second part of the book discusses specific 
projects gathered from these places. 
 
Summary lists of strategies to adopt listed across chapters follow an intuitive flow. The first three 
chapters (of 19) discuss keystone issues of governance, risk management and finance. The last 
chapter discusses the ultimate “giga” project: Nuclear. 
 
Critical management topics discussed in all the case studies, any of which could be the single 
reason for project failure, include: 
 

1. The ricochet effect 
2. Controlling non-participatory stakeholders’ expectations 
3. Controlling cultural differences 
4. Controlling cost creep 
5. Controlling schedule creep 
6. Controlling information overload 

 
Many other strategies are included, such as the crucial need to plan for most contingencies and 
ensuring that your staff has wide enough experience to trouble shoot most problems.  
 
This book would be one to consider for graduate university courses in construction and civil 
engineering. Students mastering its lessons will be better prepared for a life’s work in 
construction. Starting this learning early such as in undergraduate courses makes sense since it 
takes many years to gain the experience to manage projects of any size.  
 
For any professional who will be managing a giga project, this book is one to study to refresh or 
expanding thinking.  
 
Matt Stevens 
The University of Melbourne, Australia