TOP Ideas

Both the OGC’s “Managing Successful Programmes” (MSP) approach and Value Delivery Management™ (VDM) are focused on ‘benefits’ the two approaches have different definitions of what a benefit is and different ways of ensuring they are delivered. Not surprising, we find VDM’s much easier, clearer and practical.

4  THE BUSINESS CHANGE MANAGER — over accountable and under equipped?

In MSP the Business Change Manager (BCM) is usually a business area manager (and should never be a contractor). They have the main benefits delivery role.

The BCM has to

• define the benefits and the blueprint
• specify the project outputs required
• verify that these outputs have been delivered
• transition them into the business
• so as to realize the benefits.

All with, usually, little to no project/program delivery experience, training or support.

So, full accountability for business change and benefits realization has been given to the business (good), but with little to no enablement (not good). It is assumed that the Program Manager will allocate resources to fill the skills, knowledge, competency, process, support and other gaps (with, presumably, no accountability for their performance).

BCMs are appointed before the Program Manager as they define what the PM has to do/deliver, and then the PM organizes the delivery of the ‘capabilities’ to enable the subsequent delivery of business benefits.

BCMs define the Blueprint, vision, benefit profiles and transition (change) plans. In addition, to be effective, BCMs need the authority to decide what is possible, needed and desirable, and to harness the business to get the results desired – ie they need to be in a fairly senior role.

The BCM runs transition/change end-to-end – preparing, transitioning and embedding change. But, the BCM is not driving the program (the Program Manager is) or even facilitating it; and so has to coordinate and cooperate (as the Program Manager is on the same level as them reporting to the Sponsor) in order to get the results they need. Basically, they need to trust the PM to effectively manage the program of projects to deliver what they (think) they want so that they can ‘transition’ it into the business and realize the benefits. The PM and BCM run parallel streams of activity with many interconnections and interdependencies, but without anyone below the Sponsor having authority to direct.

VDM takes a more sequential, more easily aligned approach.

VDM defines the business end states (desired business outcomes) and associated benefits at the outset. It then defines the end-to-end change workload required to realize the outcomes and benefits. A portion of this workload is then allocated to the project to action together with clearly defined, measurable project outcomes to be delivered.

Importantly, the project’s measure of success is the delivery of the project outcomes and their enablement of the subsequent business outcomes and benefits.

However, as VDM is

• change based
• value focused
• and designed to be actioned by the business

and, as a result it is the best set of tools, techniques and templates available for a BCM to use to meet their accountabilities.