Value realised
Ensuring future income streams whilst, at the same time, exerting greater control on an increasingly safe investment portfolio were amongst the bigger wins that London Heathrow (LHR) were able to achieve through the deployment of CITI support in driving up business case management capability.
What is it? Structuring programmes is a means to clearly articulate what needs to be done and by when in order to bring about measurable, valuable change that is truly embedded into an organisation. It results in the creation of tranches of work that must be delivered and these clearly highlight the full range of changes to working practices required.
What it is not? Programmes are not big projects, nor are they portfolios. Programme management is its own discipline – and while projects may be considered successful even if the benefits expected are not delivered, that is impossible for a programme.
What’s different afterwards? Programmes deliver a future state envisioned by the Board – decisions are made, driven by a benefits-led perspective in which stakeholders are not observers that dictate targets but are instead committed to the delivery of planned change.
What is it? ‘Translating strategy into action’ allows for the creation of a clear ‘line of sight’ between the strategic intent of the Board and the set of projects that need to be established to develop the necessary new or additional competences within the business to deliver the benefits of the strategy.
What it is not? It is not a way to establish an organisation’s strategy nor a way of proving it is the right strategy – it just shows how to implement the decided strategy.
What’s different afterwards? There are no silver bullets to reduce resource contention, but the value returned for the effort expended is maximised, with the portfolio selection process transparent and the sources of choices made open to rational challenge.
What is it? A TOM is a high level view of the future state of the organisation at the operational level. It defines the relationships between people, processes, technology, products, customers, and markets which together differentiate the organisation from its competitors.
What it is not? A TOM is not a detailed operations plan that identifies specific job descriptions or roles and responsibilities.
What’s different afterwards? The organisation has clear sight of the new operating model, with benchmark values for performance, which allows the effective mobilisation of teams to implement a change programme.
What is it? When the power structures of an organisation act so as to facilitate, promote, and endorse change the impact is unstoppable. When key stakeholders form an alliance with a common vision of the future projects succeed, technical issues dissolve and benefits materialise with surprising ease.
What it is not? It’s not salesmanship, nor is it jollying people along by sending out occasional emails, or convening project board meetings to discuss project progress. Political collaboration is not Machiavellian manoeuvring for position or being diplomatic, it is partnering for mutual gain.
What’s different afterwards? Commitment to the delivery of value from the project, commitment to providing resources, and the political will to make the changes a reality. Practices are embedded with key opinion-leaders supporting the shift in values and culture that underpin every sustained change.
What is it? Readiness assessment provides a diagnostic model and tools for evaluating how well prepared and aligned the organisation, and the involved personnel, are to adopt the planned change to achieve the organisation strategy.
What it is not? Assessing readiness is not a technique for managing change – it is a diagnostic tool that is used throughout the duration of a change initiative to guide decision-makers on the best next step.
What’s different afterwards? Planned or directed change is widely regarded as difficult. Appropriate use of readiness tools provides insight into the probable success of a change initiative, and what adjustments would improve the likelihood of a successful outcome.
What is it? Coming soon…
What it is not? Coming soon…
What’s different afterwards? Coming soon…
What is it? Corporate capability is determined by the competence (and capacity) of the individuals involved, the effectiveness of the processes used and the efficiency of the governance model deployed by the organisation. Building corporate capability means addressing each of the three dimensions in a balanced and integrated way.
What it is not? It is not a catalogue of courses and training events, and it is not a static or ‘one-off’ process.
What’s different afterwards? HR and operational departments can calibrate current levels of competence and capacity against a target benchmark. This facilitates the development of a clear route-map to establish a level of competence and capability to meet the predicted levels required to deliver future enterprise portfolio.
What is it? Agile software development methods require different management approaches from those used to control more traditional development lifecycles. Project managers who use Agile development methods need to be confident that they have effective monitoring and control mechanisms in place to establish whether genuine progress is being made, and whether the business case continues to be viable.
What it is not? Agile is neither a project management nor a programme management method – it is another approach to developing software and systems, where requirements are difficult to establish.
What’s different afterwards? Only those software developments that would benefit from the use of Agile deploy it. When Agile is used, the governance groups charged with guiding the project are confident that real progress towards an acceptable completion state is being made.