---
title: TOP Thinking on | Fifteen Critical Insights
description: Fifteen Critical Insights | For more than three decades, we have been challenging the orthodox thinking about strategy and project execution in our TOP Thinking blog.
---
[](https://www.totallyoptimizedprojects.com)
# TOP Thinking on
#### [Critical Insights 15 - We Need New Mental Models for Projects](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-15-we-need-new-mental-models-for-projects)
Critical Insights (15) The current project methodologies focus project effort on the wrong outcomes, measure them with the wrong KPIs, and then we wonder why they’re not a success.
#### [Critical Insights 14 - Your staff have the deep smarts to deliver extraordinary results](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-14-your-staff-have-deep-smarts-deliver-extraordinary-results)
Critical Insights (14) You Don't Need External Experts - Your Own Staff Have The Deep Smarts To Deliver Extraordinary Results”
#### [Critical Insights 13 - The PMO Is A Strategy Role](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-13-pmo-is-a-strategy-role)
Critical Insights (13)
#### [Critical Insights 12 - Software Is Just Automated Processes](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-12-software-is-automated-processes)
Critical Insights (12) - A series of information processing steps that represent all or part of an end-to-end process.
#### [Critical Insights 11 - Project Scope Is A Lever Of Opportunity](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-11-project-scope-lever-of-opportunity)
Critical Insights (11) If you mention the word “Scope” to most people around projects, the first word they think of is “control”. As a result too often projects are scoped too tightly from the outset as part of this ‘control’ mentality, missing large areas of real value because of how the scope is defined.
#### [Critical Insights 10 - Excellent Project Management Cannot Save Poorly Conceived Projects](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-10-project-management-cannot-save-poorly-conceived-project)
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 9 - The Role Of The Project Governance Team Is To Manage Value](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-9-role-project-governance-team-manage-value)
Critical Insights (9) - When you define the project's value equation you enable the Project Governance team to fulfil their true role
#### [Critical Insights 8 - Resistance To Change Is NOT Inevitable](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-8-resistance-to-change-is-not-inevitable)
Critical Insights (8) - Too often resistance to change is created
#### [Critical Insights 7 - All Projects Are ‘Change Projects’](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-7-every-project-is-change-project)
Critical Insights (7) Benefits come from change. Therefore, it makes sense that every project should be seen as a ‘change project’.
#### [Critical Insights 6 - What is True Project Success?](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-6-what-is-true-project-success)
Critical Insights (6) Project “Success” has three dimensions
#### [Critical Insights 5 - Shift Your Focus From Project Cost To Project Value](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-5-shift-focus-from-project-cost-to-value)
Critical Insights (5) - to focus on value you need to define your project's Value Equation™
#### [Critical Insights 4 - Why We Do Business Cases](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-4-why-we-do-business-cases)
Critical Insights (4) We don't do business cases to justify the project - we do projects to deliver business cases!
#### [Critical Insights 3 - 'Tangible' Means 'Measurable'](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-3-tangible-means-measurable)
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.
#### [Critical Insights 2 - The Business Case Is A Contract](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-2-business-case-is-contract)
We take enormous effort to compute the project’s workload, effort and costs for the Business Case. And then we try to find enough benefits to justify the costs or generate a positive ROI or clear the capital hurdle rate to gain approval.
#### [Critical Insights 1 - We Do Projects To Realize Benefits](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/critical-insights-1-we-do-projects-to-realize-benefits)
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.
### TOPics
- [Benefits Management (29)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/benefits-management)
- [Business Case (24)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/business-case)
- [Business Simplification (5)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/business-simplification)
- [Capability Development (38)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/capability-development)
- [Capital Investment (24)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/capital-investment)
- [Change Management (17)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/change-management)
- [Consultants (1)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/consultants)
- [Costs and Waste (16)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/costs-and-waste)
- [Engineered Thinking/Ideas/Innovation (8)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/engineered-thinking-ideas-innovation)
- [Fifteen Critical Insights (15)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/fifteen-critical-insights)
- [Idea / Project Initiation (3)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/idea-project-initiation)
- [Mental Models, Beliefs and Myths (18)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/mental-models-beliefs-and-myths)
- [Outcomes Thinking (10)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/outcomes-thinking)
- [Path Dependency (10)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/path-dependency)
- [Prioritization (13)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/prioritization)
- [Process Management (11)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/process-management)
- [Productivity Improvement (7)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/productivity-improvement)
- [Program / Project delivery (40)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/program-project-delivery)
- [Project Controls (52)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/project-controls)
- [Project Governance (90)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/project-governance)
- [Project Management (4)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/project-management)
- [Project Success (46)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/project-success)
- [Project Validation (2)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/project-validation)
- [Risk Management (5)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/risk-management)
- [Scope Management (5)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/scope-management)
- [Standards/Frameworks/Methods (14)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/standards-frameworks-methods)
- [Strategic Project Portfolio Management (16)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/strategic-project-portfolio-management)
- [Strategy Execution (39)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/strategy-execution)
- [The TOP Four Lenses (1)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/the-top-four-lenses)
- [TOP compared to orthodox approaches (7)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/top-compared-to-orthodox-approaches)
- [Value Delivery (83)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/value-delivery)
- [Value Equation (60)](https://blog.totallyoptimizedprojects.com/top-thinking/topic/value-equation)
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