Summary

Solving to Benefits Puzzle explains why conventional approaches to benefits management don’t work, and provides a new approach based on The Value Equation™ that does work. If you want to get your organization interested in sensible, effective benefits management this is the solution. For years organisations have struggled to effectively track and measure the benefits expected from their projects. Management is frustrated at the continuing lack of benefits measurement. But the situation is worse than just poor measurement.

Most projects actually leave many of their potential benefits ‘on the table’ unidentified. They then, inadvertently, lose, destroy or miss many other benefits. Our research has shown that most projects deliver less than half of their potential value. This loss represents billions of dollars a year in lost or missed benefits! Most of this loss goes unmeasured. Traditional approaches to benefits management just haven’t worked. They seem workable on paper but, when put to the test, do not effectively identify, quantify, track and measure benefits both during and after the project. The reasons why benefits management has remained a ‘lost cause’ for so long are numerous, including lack of attention, desires to avoid accountability, confusion, sloppy language and the bad results of previous half-baked attempts.

“Solving the Benefits Puzzle” spells out the problems and the solution. A solution that has already been adopted in numerous organizations with astounding success. The solution is based on the deceptively simple Value Equation™ that focuses attention on the five key elements of benefits management and allows all of them to be tracked and measured. This book spells out a solution that works. It challenges conventional views, but is easy to learn and adopt. It solves, for all time, the benefits puzzle!

Executives, Richard and Jack, are frustrated by the puzzle of project benefits going missing and vapourising. They enlist the help of Dianne, the CIO, to find a solution. Diane is ahead of the game in that she is currently receiving newsletters that spell out a new way of approaching benefits management. Diane applies this new approach to one of her projects with surprising results.

This new approach, based on The Value Equation™, challenges her assumptions - but works! With the approval of Big Harry, the CEO, they get Martin, the consultant, in to take them through the process. The organization finds Benefits Management is a new way of looking at projects that, in turn refocuses projects to ensure the benefits are delivered and the benefits puzzle is solved.

Benefits

This book will

1. eradicate false assumptions and half-baked ideas as to what benefits management is
2. explain why so much value is lost during projects
3. explain the dynamics and pitfalls of benefits management
4. spell out a solution that any sized organization can easily adopt
5. demonstrate the difference a simple but powerful benefits management program can make to projects,

all in an easy, storyline style that all executives and project practitioners can read.

Who should read

Everyone who wants to see benefits realized from projects — the Board, Executive Team, PMO, Governance and Project Teams. It is written as a story, so is easy to read on a plane, at home or anywhere. The message is powerful but the approach is entertaining.

Contents

1. A Wealth of Excuses
2. Why Current Approaches Fail
3. The Need for Discipline in Definitions
4. The Benefits Gap
5. Desired Business Outcomes
6. The Value Equation™
7. The Instability of the Dollars
8. Dealing with the Dynamics of the Business
9. Characteristics of The Value Equation™
10. The Loss of Benefits
11. Maximizing the Benefits
12. Progressive Definitional Clarification
13. The DBO-generation Process
14. You Get What You Ask For
15. Leveraging Your Deep Smarts™
16. Reverse Engineering Planning
17. Benefits Delivery Planning
18. Tracking the Value
19. The Primary Measures of Success
20. Accountability for Benefits
21. The Role of Governance
22. How to Implement