Doing It Differently Systems for Rethinking Construction by David Blockley

Doing it Differently: Systems for Rethinking Infrastructure proposes ‘systems thinking’ as a methodology to deliver change. The book sets out the theory, concepts and tools using real-life examples to persuade people to think differently rather than simply relying on specific techniques or methods for particular types of problem.

The first edition was published in 2000 to respond to the Egan Report of 1998 which called for radical change in the construction industry. With UK Government spending in the order of £200bn over the next 10 years, this book is being directly helpful to those responsible for changes in the delivery of infrastructure needs.

The second edition has been updated to reflect the current and growing realisation of the importance of infrastructure to the national economy and to manage the effects of climate change. It is organised using a simple framework to help improve systems thinking capability and shared learning. It also includes a coherent treatment of complexity in construction with new clarifications of terms such as risk, vulnerability and resilience, and more on how to use tools such as the “Italian Flag”, as well as a new treatment of high consequence, low probability events to improve resilience.

Doing it Differently: Systems for Rethinking Infrastructure

• reflects the current and growing realisation of the importance of infrastructure to the national economy in UK and internationally including USA.
• includes numerous practical examples and case study boxes that help to illustrate major points
• provides the inspiration and resources to enable all infrastructure players to rethink and deliver change by doing it differently

David Blockley is Emeritus Professor at the University of Bristol. Patrick Godfrey is Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of Bristol, and Director of the Systems Centre and the EPSRC Industrial Doctorate Centre in Systems at University of Bristol and University of Bath.