Projects and programmes, a sure fire way to creating business value

Projects and

programmes: a sure-

fire way to creating

business value?

Executive Briefing

Phil Driver

How can sponsors

and SROs be sure

that their projects

or programmes will

actually create

business value?

Merron Simpson

Merron is the UK’s Lead on

OpenStrategies & a Certified

Facilitator / Practitioner.

She uses OpenStrategies with

organisations to improve their

strategic planning, undertake service

reviews & demonstrate their social

impact.

Validating Strategies Linking Projects and Results

to Uses and Benefits

Dr Phil Driver

OpenStrategies Ltd

Key questions and messages

• What is ‘strategy’ and what’s it got to do with project management?

• What do organisations (and project managers) actually do?

• Can project managers ‘realise benefits’?

• How do projects link through to benefits?

• PRUB – linking Projects and Results to Uses and Benefits

• The crucial importance of ‘Uses’, especially ‘compound Uses’

• Validating project/programme/portfolio strategies

– Is it logical?

– Will it definitely work?

– Will it be worth it?

Copyright OpenStrategies Ltd 2015

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‘Tired of Strategic Planning?’

From a 2007 survey of 30 top international companies, McKinsey’s

conclusions about strategic planning were:

• “…the extraordinary reality is that few executives think

this time-consuming process pays off…”

• “…there is an almost mystical hope that something

good will come out of it”

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What is a strategy? • A strategy is “an action plan and rationale”

• “Rationale” means the reason for implementing the strategy i.e. confirmation that:

– It is logical

– It will definitely work

– It is worth it

• Projects/programmes/portfolios must be guided by rationale-based strategies


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What should strategies do?

Strategies should guide improvements in what

organisations actually do

So what do organisations actually do?


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What organisations actually do


Create assets (products,

services, infrastructure) and

enable customers/citizens to

use them to create benefits

Inputs Benefits

External factors

Internal factors

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Create assets & enable people to Use assets to create Benefits


10

P R U B


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Happy customers because they

have done and achieved what

they wanted to do and achieve

Sustainably manufacture,

distribute and market our

company’s new product

Our company’s new product

available to customers

together with relevant

product marketing

information

Customers buy and use our

company’s new product to do

& achieve what they want

Our company is sustainably

profitable

Projects Results Uses Benefits

Build a sheltered, safe

cycleway from the housing

estate to the school

A sheltered, safe cycleway is in

place from the housing estate

to the school

Children ride to school and

home again on the safe and

sheltered cycleway

Children are safe when

travelling

Two simple example SubStrategies


Human cognitive limits

• There are limits to how much information humans can use at any

one time:

– Humans can hold 7 +/- 2 ideas in their heads (Miller’s law)

– We believe that humans can understand just 15-20 inter-connected

ideas when they are in a written or graphical format (Driver’s 1st law)

• So if strategies are to be understood by many people they must be

easy to understand

12


Research results suitable

for incorporation into GIS

Incorporate R&D results

into GIS products &

services

Other organisations

incorporate GIS into

complementary products

and services

Updated GIS products &

services available

Products & services which

are complementary to GIS

products & services

Farmers & other land

owners manage land

better guided by GIS &


within regulatory guidelines

• Dairy farmers for nitrate

management

• Conservationists for

native plant management

• Regional authorities for

river nutrient

management

• Drinking water suppliers

for water quality

management

•

•

Economic Benefits to

farmers, land managers,

suppliers & others

Social Benefits to farmers,

land managers, suppliers &

other stakeholders

Develop & Validate a GIS

R&D Strategy

Conduct GIS research in

line with the strategy

Validated GIS R&D

strategy, widely supported

by stakeholders

Environmental Benefits to


suppliers & others

Cultural Benefits to farmers,


other stakeholders

Sustainably viable

organisations who created

GIS & complementary

products & services

Regulators create and

disseminate effective

regulations guided by GIS

Effective regulations in

place & understood by end-

users


PRUB is simple…. the world is complex

• The ‘Use’ as seen and valued by users is often quite different from

the ‘Use’ as seen by project managers

• Very often the true and valued ‘Use’ as perceived by the user is

many steps beyond the immediate ‘Use’ of a Result

• Most Uses are ‘Compound Uses’


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GIS hardware &

software

GIS data

Land managers:

• learn about using GIS systems & data,

• purchase hardware/software,

• download GI data,

• collect their own GI data,

• integrate data,

• verify & analyse data,

• draw conclusions from data,

• make land management decisions,

• train their staff to implement the decisions,

• get permits to implement the decisions,

• purchase equipment to implement the decisions,

• manage the land better (i.e. implement the

decisions)

Results (Compound) Uses Benefits

Economic,

environmental &

social Benefits

‘realised’ by the

better land

management

What is the ‘Benefit-realising’ Use?

Who is it that ‘realises Benefits’?


16

GIS hardware &

software

GIS data

Land managers:



• download data,

• collect their own data,

• integrate data,








decisions)


Economic,

environmental &

social Benefits


better land

management

GIS data

integration tools

GIS analysis &

validation tools

Decision support

tools/advisors

GIS/Management

training

Land mgmnt tools

Permitting system New Results which are essential to enable

‘Benefits Realisation’ by users

Benefits realisation by Users/Uses

• Only Uses ‘realise Benefits’

• Almost all Uses are compound Uses

• So only the final Uses ‘realise Benefits’


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Benefits realisation by Users/Uses

• So if project managers are to ‘realise Benefits’ then they must

‘ensure’ that:

all the necessary & sufficient Results are in place…

to enable every single element of the inevitably compound Uses to

happen…

to create the desired Benefits

• To achieve this, a project/programme/portfolio ‘Strategy’ must be

‘Validated’


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‘Validating’ strategies

• Almost anyone can write a document and call it a

project/programme/portfolio ‘strategy’

• It is not a strategy unless it has been ‘Validated’

• How do we develop and Validate strategies?


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Creating a Validated Strategy

1. PRUB Describe the idea as a simple PRUB

What’s the aspiration?

2. SubStrategy Describe the idea as a SubStrategy

Is it logical?

3. Evidence Add compelling Evidence for the Links

Will it definitely work?

4. Value (V) VB must be greater than ($P + $U)

Is it worth it?

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Step 1: High level PRUB

• Outline the project/programme/portfolio as the simplest

possible sequence of Projects, Results, Uses and

Benefits

• This defines the overall ‘Aspirations’

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Develop GIS

products & services

to help guide land

managers to

manage land better

Farmers & other

land owners

manage their land

better, guided by

GIS products and

services

Economic Benefits

Social Benefits

Environmental

Benefits


GIS products and

services are

available to help

guide land

managers with their

land management

High level Aspirational SubStrategy for ‘GIS’

(Geographical Information Systems)


Step 2: SubStrategy

• Expand the high level PRUB into a SubStrategy which identifies what we would like to happen

• This shows theoretically how Projects (inputs) Link through Results (outputs) and Uses to Benefits (outcomes)

• Ideally 15-20 ‘PRUBs’

• This answers the question: “Is it logical?”

23


Research results suitable

for incorporation into GIS

GIS product developers

incorporate R&D results

into GIS

Other organisations

incorporate GIS into


and services

Updated GIS products and

services available to end

users

Products & services which

are complementary to GIS

products & services

Farmers & other land

owners manage land

better guided by GIS &


within regulatory guidelines

• Dairy farmers for nitrate

management

• Conservationists for

native plant management

• Regional authorities for

river nutrient

management

• Drinking water suppliers

for water quality

management

•

•

Economic Benefits to


suppliers & others

Social Benefits to farmers,


other stakeholders

GIS stakeholders develop &

Validate a GIS R&D

Strategy

Researchers conduct GIS

research in line with the

strategy

Validated GIS R&D

strategy, widely supported

by stakeholders

Environmental Benefits to


suppliers & others

Cultural Benefits to farmers,


other stakeholders

Sustainably viable

organisations who created

GIS & complementary

products & services

Regulators create more

effective regulations guided

by GIS

Effective regulations

(guided by GIS) in place &

understood by end-users



Step 3: Evidence

• A SubStrategy identifies what we would like to happen

• We need to add cause-and-effect Evidence (not just mere ‘data’) to be sure that it really will happen

• Evidence is information which ‘validates’ the Links between Projects, Results, Uses and Benefits

• ‘Evidence’ answers the question: “Will it work?”

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Evidence sits on

the Links

between

Projects,

Results, Uses

and Benefits

The strategically

most important

Evidence sits on

the Links

between Results

and Uses 26


27

GIS hardware &

software

GIS data

Land managers:



• download data,

• collect their own data,

• integrate data,








decisions) to ‘realise Benefits’


Economic,

environmental &

social Benefits


better land

management

GIS data

integration tools

GIS analysis &

validation tools

Decision support

tools/advisors

GIS/Management

training

Land mgmnt tools

Permitting system A Validated strategy must having compelling Evidence

that every element of a compound Use will happen


Step 4: Value

• Determine a ‘Value’ for Benefits (VB) (Ask the users)

• Identify costs of Projects ($P) plus costs of Uses ($U)

• To proceed with a Project….

VB must be greater than $P + $U

• This answers the question: “Is it worth it?” 28

Benefits realisation?

• So who creates/delivers/ensures/realises Benefits?

• Project managers cannot ‘create’ or ‘deliver’ or ‘ensure’ or

‘realise’ Benefits

• Only Users create/realise Benefits via their compound Uses

• Therefore for Benefits to be ‘realised’, project managers must

totally understand, and help enable, every element of

compound Uses

• So project/programme/portfolio strategies must be Validated


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OpenStrategies is a comprehensive strategy management system based on PRUB

• Develop strategies

• Validate strategies

• Implement strategies/manage processes

• Empower Users to create/realise Benefits as perceived and valued by the users

• Integrate levels of strategies (Portfolio/programme/project)

• Integrate strategies on many topics, demographic groups and geographical areas

• Integrate strategies across organisations (collaboration)

• Integrate sequential strategies

• Performance measurement and management

• Stakeholder engagement/consultation 30

For more information/Master Classes

Dr Phil Driver, Visiting lecturer, Cologne University of Applied Sciences

Adjunct Senior Fellow, Canterbury University, New Zealand

CEO, OpenStrategies Ltd

Author, Validating Strategies

http://www.gowerpublishing.com/isbn/9781472427816

www.openstrategies.com

[email protected]

+64 (0)21 0236 5861

Merron Simpson [email protected]

07973 498603 or

0121 459 8795


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http://www.gowerpublishing.com/isbn/9781472427816

http://www.openstrategies.com/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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Projects and programmes, a sure fire way to creating business value