The Public Sector (or charities) cannot “deliver benefits”. Only people who are willing and able to use the results of the Public Sector’s activities can realise benefits. Don’t dream up, and waste resources on, projects where you can’t be confident the results will be used to achieve benefits

1. The Public Sector cannot
deliver Benefits
Ian J Seath
[Version 2]
A presentation based on
OpenStrategies’ PRUB-thinking
© ISC Ltd. 20131

2. Inputs
Public
Sector
Outcomes
How the Public Sector (often) thinks
about outcomes
© ISC Ltd. 20132

3. Inputs Outcomes
Public
Sector
Community
How the Public Sector should think about
outcomes
OpenStrategies’ PRUB-thinking:
Organisations run Projects that produce
Results, which citizens or communities
Use to create Benefits.
© ISC Ltd. 20133

4. Why the benefits might not be achieved
 There are inadequate, or insufficient, Projects
producing Results linked via Uses to the
required Benefit
 The Results of Projects are of no Use, or
cannot be Used
 There are potentially Useful Results that
aren’t being Used, for various reasons
© ISC Ltd. 20134

5. 4 key questions for service providers
 What Results (deliverables) will your
Project/Programme create?
 Does anyone intend to use these Results
when they get them?
 What Benefit will they get from using them?
© ISC Ltd. 20135

6. A generic Sub-strategy
© ISC Ltd. 20136

7. Will Projects really lead to Benefits?
 Each Project must have cause and effect evidence of
links through Results and Uses to at least one Benefit
 Links from Projects to Results must have 100%
confidence
 Ideally, we should have 100% confidence in the links
from Results to Uses and from Uses to Benefits, but in
the real world…
 Links from Results to Uses must have at least 80% confidence
 Links from Uses to Benefits must have at least 50% confidence
 The value of the Benefits must exceed the combined
cost of Projects and Uses
© ISC Ltd. 20137

8. Use PRUB to develop a balanced set
of measures (& targets)
 Example:
 An organisation that creates (via a Project) a new
labelling system for foods (a Result) needs
consumers to change their eating behaviour (Use)
before they can hope to see improvements in
health, such as reduced levels of obesity
(Benefit).
© ISC Ltd. 20138

9. Possible Benefits measures
 % of 5-10 year olds who are clinically obese
 Incidence levels of Coronary Heart Disease
 We’d want to set targets to reduce both of these by
specified amounts in a given period
 Ideally, we’d also want to ask end-users how
they would determine whether or not they were
achieving any benefit; e.g.
 % of people who say they have been able to wear
smaller waist-size clothes, or increase their
participation levels in sports
© ISC Ltd. 20139

10. Possible Use measures
 % of xyz demographic group who are aware of
the new labelling system
 % of the xyz demographic group who have
changed their buying and eating habits as a
consequence of using the system
 Consumer perceptions of the ease of use of the
system (e.g. saying they find it very easy)
 Note that Use and Benefits measurements can only
be made outside the organisation that created the
results
© ISC Ltd. 201310

11. Possible Results measures
 % of foodstuffs covered by the system
 % of foodstuffs correctly labelled
 No. or % of manufacturers adopting the
system
 Manufacturer feedback on the system (e.g. %
saying they are very happy to use it)
© ISC Ltd. 201311

12. Possible Projects measures
 Cost of carrying out the project to produce
the results (vs. the budget)
 Timeliness of achievement of milestones and
deliverables (e.g. compared with baseline)
 Number of person-hours expended on the
project
 Number, or percentage, of manufacturers
engaged/consulted in the development of the
system
© ISC Ltd. 201312

13. A trail of Lead and Lag Indicators
 Levels of obesity or coronary heart
disease will only reduce [Lag] if
consumers recognise the need,
and then act, to change their eating
behaviour [Lead].
 This will be more likely to happen if
the new labelling system is easily
understood [Lag] by consumers
and widely adopted by
manufacturers [Lead].
 Achieving that depends on active
engagement of the right
manufacturers [Lag] and it needs
an adequately resourced and well-
managed project [Lead] to enable
that to be done.
© ISC Ltd. 201313
Eating
habits
Obesity &
CHD
Manufacturer
adoption
Consumer
understanding
Project
Management
Manufacturer
engagement

14. Key messages
 The Public Sector (or charities) cannot
“deliver benefits”
 Only people who are willing and able to use
the results of the Public Sector’s activities
can realise benefits
 Don’t dream up, and waste resources on,
projects where you can’t be confident the
results will be used to achieve benefits
© ISC Ltd. 201314

15. ian.seath@react.co.uk
07850 728506
@ianjseath
uk.linkedin.com/in/ianjseath
© ISC Ltd. 201315
I am grateful to Dr. Phil Driver of OpenStrategies for his critique of these
slides and permission to share OpenStrategies’ PRUB Thinking.