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
5

‘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”
6

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
7

What should strategies do?
Strategies should guide improvements in what
organisations actually do
So what do organisations actually do?
8

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
9

Create assets & enable people to Use assets to create Benefits
10
P R U B

11
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
availableto 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 theschool
A sheltered, safe cycleway is in
place from the housing estate
to the school
Children ride to school and
home again on thesafe 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’
14

15
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’
17

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’
18

‘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?
19

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?
20

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’
21

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?”
25

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
29

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
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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
phil@openstrategies.com
+64 (0)21 0236 5861
Merron Simpson
merron@newrealities.co.uk
07973 498603 or
0121 459 8795
31

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