Quantifying soft benefits, Implementing BS202002: Benefits management on portfolios, programmes and projects

Article on soft benefits in PM World Journal Volume XIII Issue IV (April 2024). A key principle of benefits management is to identify what matters (an example is given in Figure 1) and determine if your project changes something that matters (preferably for the better). Many of the benefits that matter the most are soft… Continue reading Quantifying soft benefits, Implementing BS202002: Benefits management on portfolios, programmes and projects

Benefits management for programmes, projects, and other related work

Article on clause 8 of BS202002 – Programmes, projects and other related work, published in PM World Journal Volume XIII Issue III (March 2024). Benefits don’t happen by themselves – they need careful planning, delicate management, andrigorous reporting. They need a midwife.And just as a midwife should be involved before, during, and after the birth… Continue reading Benefits management for programmes, projects, and other related work

Retrofitting benefits to existing projects: Understanding value when you didn’t do benefits management the first time

Series article in PM World Journal Volume XIII Issue II (February 2024) on bringing your portfolio up to speed to use benefits management for prioritising activities across the portfolio How do you choose what projects will get you the best return for your money (and keystaff)? The simplest answer is “benefits management”, but there are… Continue reading Retrofitting benefits to existing projects: Understanding value when you didn’t do benefits management the first time

On Alan Stretton’s project success paper in the December PMWJ

Letter to the editor in PMWJ XII Issue XII December 2023 Dear Editor,Alan Stretton rightly argues (in ‘QUESTIONING “PROJECT SUCCESS”’ Dec 2023) thatthe success of a project happens outside of the control of the project manager. Andherein lies the primary reason why project managers resist benefits management – weare control freaks!Benefits come about when “those… Continue reading On Alan Stretton’s project success paper in the December PMWJ

APM Conference Oct 2023: Project management is critical to sustainability

A summary I wrote in Project Management World Journal XII December 2023 Context Project managers are crucial to the delivery of sustainability in all its forms – environmental, social and community; and good governance for the future of the organisation and the changes brought about by its projects. For change work, including projects, programmes, portfolios… Continue reading APM Conference Oct 2023: Project management is critical to sustainability

A new British standard: benefits management

This article is about the new British standard: applying benefits management on portfolios, programmes and projects — A guide. There’s also a launch video recording.   This blog is the first of three that explains the story behind the standard. The other two are: a gallop through the standard, and the seven deadly sins of benefits management.  Link to article… Continue reading A new British standard: benefits management

Realising benefits from Crossrail

The NAO published its latest report on Crossrail on 9 July. The report highlights a number of positives: Crossrail Ltd and the sponsors are controlling costs and improving performance. The project is now hitting 90 per cent of the (revised) milestones.  However, the Benefits section (Section 4) makes interesting reading. Return on investment has been revised from… Continue reading Realising benefits from Crossrail

Procurement for Benefits and Value

When you are contracting to buy, what are you hoping to buy? The specific thing you asked for? Or would you like a bit of innovation? And how can you help your prospective suppliers to innovate in ways that add value? Ideally, you need a way to tell your prospective suppliers what the solution Must… Continue reading Procurement for Benefits and Value

“We have to change – where do we start?”

Does this sound familiar? In my experience, many organisations get the wrong results because they make the wrong changes because they don’t make a proper diagnosis. Some companies (you know who you are!) point the finger of blame in completely the wrong place – for example terminating any root cause analysis that may criticise senior… Continue reading “We have to change – where do we start?”