2. Benefits Management
Textbook Definition
– “The identification, definition,
tracking, realisation and optimisation
of benefits at initiative and portfolio
level”
Steve Jenner, Managing Benefits
3. Benefits Management
Real Life Definition
– “What you do after you have
delivered the project”
– “The thing you do once you’ve spent
all the budget”
8. What Defines Project Success?
1st Dimension
– On Time
– On Budget
– To Scope
2nd Dimension
– Did we create business value?
Source: Delivering Major Projects in Government, National Audit Office (UK), 2016
9. What’s wrong with the Status
Quo?
Strategic Alignment
38%
of initiatives are
not helping to
deliver strategy
Source: 4th Global Portfolio and Programme Management Survey, PwC, 2014
11. What are the Benefits?
Organisations that
focus on strategic
alignment
deliver 50% more
successful projects
Source: Pulse of the Profession, Project Management Institute, 2015
71%
46%
Strategic Focus No Strategic
Focus
Project Success Rates
12. So How Do We Achieve Strategic
Alignment?
Select the Right Projects!
So, What are the “Right” Projects?
20. An Agile Approach to Delivery
Allows Sponsors To:
1. Review performance to date versus the business case
at regular intervals
2. Check that the direction and end state are still sound
(ie no significant shift in the market or new disruptors)
3. Determine whether the investment is still the best option
for future capital investment (Portfolio Optimization), or
whether further investment is perhaps warranted to
exploit the opportunity.
24. This All Starts with the
Business Case
The Business Case is the Mandate from
the organisation to deliver value
It is not just used to ‘justify’ the investment
of resources, but as a roadmap to value
creation
Includes lead indicators to measure
performance during delivery
Should be reviewed regularly to consider
internal and external factors
25. Examples of Measurable
Lead Indicators
Outcome – Reduce Smoking Related Deaths
Lead Indicator – Smoking Rates
Lead Indicator – Quitting Intentions
Outcome – Reduce staff in call centre
Lead Indicator - % of self service transactions
Lead Indicator - % of customers who use
similar technology elsewhere
26. Business Case Reviews
Need to regularly review each
business case to determine:
– Initiatives are still strategically
aligned
– Delivery Performance ($, time)
– Benefits are likely to be realised
If an initiative no longer fits, have the
decency to kill it!
28. Contact
Matt Williams PMP, MAIPM
Managing Director
Connexion Systems Pty Ltd
E: mwilliams@connexion.com.au
M: +61 414 847 040
W: www.connexion.com.au
Editor's Notes
But - Its too late to wait until the end of the project to find out whether we will deliver business value
"The Only Constant is Change"
As the pace of change and digital disruption is increasing, we need to:
1. Select the Right Portfolios of initiatives
2. Execute
3. Monitor and evaluate performance
Eddie Obeng - "Must Move on from moving atoms to moving electrons“
Fail Fast – Be Nimble
An Agile approach allows us to deliver value and measure success earlier
Early delivery of value – are we on the right track?
Staged release of funds
Fail Fast Mentality
So, how do we apply an Agile approach to large transformational change or service delivery initiatives?
Need to not just plan for early benefits realisation, but also track our progress
PMI Pulse of the Profession, March 2016
At a time when the 2016 Pulse of the Profession® report indicates that project
results are not only failing to improve, but may even be deteriorating, there
is a clear need for significant change. As this report suggests, “changing
the conversation” to a shared discussion between executives and project
managers on the topic of identifying benefits at the outset of every project is
a good place to start.
What Defines Project Success?
So, we have picked the projects that, when comparing apples with apples, should deliver the greatest value to our organisation. How do we convert ideas into action?
Need to not just plan for early benefits realisation, but also track our progress.
Plans can take many forms, but the important point it that we need to identify ‘quick wins’ – outcomes that we can plan and measure
Incremental delivery of outcomes (benefits) – great in theory, but in practice who tracks whether the interim outcomes are being achieved?
Need to not just plan for early benefits realistion, but also track our progress
Planned Costs
Planned Benefits
Actual Costs
Actual Benefits
Forecasts – schedule delays, assumption shifts
No one has the heart to kill them so they just stagger on aimlessly, consuming resources