Where does value go: 20% of available value delayed due to late benefits delivery
by jed simms on June 16, 2010
You can delay the realisation of benefits that could be generated and ‘banked’ during the project by not focusing on their progressive realisation. If you see benefits as being enabled and delivered only at the end of the project you‘ll not be looking to deliver them during the project.
Progressive delivery of benefits throughout the duration of the project both builds confidence in the project and reduces its net cost to the organization.
You can choose the lifecycle of your project. Technical lifecycles tend to build to a crescendo – implementation – with the expectation that everything will happen then or thereafter. This is the common systems-related lifecycle approach. But it does not have to be this way – even with systems-based projects.
When you view your project as a ‘change project’ you plan to deliver change throughout the project and some of this change will deliver or enable immediately available benefits. Costs can be reduced through stopping existing tasks, changing how you do certain activities. These and other types of = benefits can be ‘banked’ long before the technical lifecycle delivers.
If you think of your project as a ‘systems project’ then you’ll not readily see the availability of immediate and progressive benefits. “How can you realize benefits before the system is installed? But if you think of your project as one of continuous, cumulative change then you can find benefits realisation opportunities throughout the project.
And the opportunity is often to realize 20% or more of the total available value. Realization of this value early sustains the team’s morale (we’re delivering), business management and staff’s confidence in the project (it’s delivering), while also reducing the net cost of the project as the value of the benefits kicks in – a triple bottom line! And progressive benefits delivery also spreads the project’s change impact over a period of time making change easier to implement, absorb and sustain.
Value Delivery Management’s change planning process ensures every project is set up and planning to deliver progressive benefits.
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