You can lose money fast on projects by one simple step - not implementing an effective benefits management process. And this is very expensive.
The role of the portfolio management office may be known, but what exactly is it accountable for? The answer may surprise you
The obstacles to the successful implementation of benefits management come in all shapes and sizes, but boil down to three root causes.
To successfully implement benefits management you have to tackle three dimensions in the correct order, otherwise you'll fail.
If you see value delivery as an extension of project delivery you will severely compromise the business value delivered, as we explain
Benefits management and measurement is easy if you set up your projects to track and deliver the value.
Tracking your strategy execution is simple and puts you in control of your strategy's execution
Pure technical projects can miss millions of benefits unnecessarily. All projects should be organizational change projects led by the business..
Benefits don't just happen, they have to be planned, actioned and delivered. Benefits delivery is a change process - not a measurement process.
Your benefits' value is controlled by your scope and portfolio management processes
Benefits Management can be simple, easy and effective. While there are five alternatives, the TOP approach ensures you deliver the benefits.
Defining clear, specific, measurable desired business outcomes changes your project, reduces your costs and increases the value. Really!
A 'project delivery' mindset generated business case can easily miss massive business value. A different "value delivery" mindset is required.
When you put benefits center-stage, the value of the benefits identified and 'banked' increase exponentially. It makes sense and is simple to do
A simplistic approach to benefits measurement can actually destroy value. A simplified approach can ensure you realize the value.
The idea of projects not being responsible for benefits is false and needs to be rejected.
Projects do not just exist to solve problems, they are commissioned to deliver the business benefits and value.
Managing the 'iron triangle' is not the key control, you need to manage scope and value to get the benefits you expect.
Orthodox projects start too late and finish too early. To reap the value you need to an end-to-end project delivery process.
There are 8 self-evident truths that are too often ignored. This is destroying the business value delivered. You need to know the Truths.
Projects can progressively deliver benefits and value throughout their duration. You don't (and shouldn't) wait till the project is handed over to start making the changes needed to deliver value.
If you fail to actively deliver the post-project benefits, you can lose over 50% of the available value. You need a simple, effective process to ensure you deliver the benefits.
Critical Insights (10) Most of the attention on projects for the past 20-30 years has been focused on the “how” — principally project management. Methodologies, books, support systems, training and qualifications on project management abound, but the success rate on projects has not increased.
Critical Insights (3) many business cases have headings of “Tangible” and “Intangible” benefits based on this mistaken understanding of the meaning of the word ‘tangible’. “Tangible” correctly means “measurable” i.e., if a benefit is measurable, then it is tangible. If you can measure an increase in your client’s satisfaction or loyalty, then it is tangible.
Getting benefits and value from projects is not peripheral or tangential, rather they are the core reason we do projects. Benefits, therefore, should not be "hoped for" or "someone else’s responsibility" to deliver but the main focus and intent of ALL the project's activities.
Use of the orthodox methodologies can ensure each and every project you commission is designed to fail.
Few projects are truly benefits focused; instead most believe that benefits will somehow materialize later. This is an expensive mistake.
A checklist you can use to ascertain if your project is really focused on the benefits you want from your project
Who is accountable for delivery of the business benefits? In most organizations this is still unclear.
TOPics
- Benefits Management (29)
- Business Case (24)
- Business Simplification (5)
- Capability Development (38)
- Capital Investment (24)
- Change Management (17)
- Consultants (1)
- Costs and Waste (16)
- Engineered Thinking/Ideas/Innovation (8)
- Fifteen Critical Insights (15)
- Idea / Project Initiation (3)
- Mental Models, Beliefs and Myths (18)
- Outcomes Thinking (10)
- Path Dependency (10)
- Prioritization (13)
- Process Management (11)
- Productivity Improvement (7)
- Program / Project delivery (40)
- Project Controls (52)
- Project Governance (90)
- Project Management (4)
- Project Success (46)
- Project Validation (2)
- Risk Management (5)
- Scope Management (5)
- Standards/Frameworks/Methods (14)
- Strategic Project Portfolio Management (16)
- Strategy Execution (40)
- The TOP Four Lenses (1)
- TOP compared to orthodox approaches (7)
- Value Delivery (83)
- Value Equation (60)