Top Ten Behavioral Biases in Project Management: An Overview

Behavioral science has witnessed an explosion in the number of biases identified by behavioral scientists, to more than 200 at present. This article identifies 10 most important for project management. First, we argue it is a mistake equate bias with cognitive bias, as common. Cognitive half story; political other half. Second, list top management: (1) strategic misrepresentation, (2) optimism (3) uniqueness (4) planning fallacy, (5) overconfidence (6) hindsight (7) availability (8) base rate (9) anchoring, and (10) escalation commitment. Each defined, its impacts on management are explained, examples. Third, neglect primary reason that projects underperform. supported presentation comprehensive set rates exist scholarship, from 2,062 projects. Finally, recent findings power law outcomes performance possible first stage discovering general theory management, fundamental scientific explanations found conventional theory.