Let’s play a word-association sport. Champions (Liverpool). Cyclists (smug). IT challenge (failure). Ask folks what they learn about tech initiatives, and they’ll in all probability say that they take longer than anticipated, value greater than budgeted and ship lower than they’re meant to. Is that notion correct? And if that’s the case, what may be achieved about it? A forthcoming paper, by Bent Flyvbjerg of Oxford College and his co-authors, sheds gentle on these questions.