Delivering Business Value in Projects and Programs

This post discusses the need to deliver business value in projects and programs. One of the most common concepts in the business world is about “value creation”. Whether discussing customers, or internal stakeholders, the primary management theme within enterprises and the global business ecosystem is about creating value for one’s customers and stakeholders. When delivering projects or programs, it’s vital that we as project managers and program managers are constantly delivering business outcomes that translate into business value. More recently, therefore, the focus within the project management profession has shifted to keep the focus on the delivery of business outcomes rather than delivery of features and deliverables. It’s the program manager’s job to ensure that collectively those features and deliverables constitute business value. A project or program that simply delivers certain deliverables may not be considered successful unless it has delivered a specific outcome for the business and creates value for its customers.

Consider, for example, that as a program manager you are tasked to upgrade your organization’s CRM system to increase the efficiency of your organization’s sales force. After appropriate planning, you define the deliverables for your overall program and its constituent projects. If after the delivery of your system your sales force doesn’t see the efficiencies that it had hoped would bring to their day to day operations, the program will not be considered as a success. So, although as a program manager you delivered the system with its planned deliverables, the business didn’t see any value from the delivery of this roll-out.

It’s vital, therefore, that as a project or a program manager you clearly identify the business value that your project or program will deliver to its stakeholder and sponsors. Such business value is not always defined clearly and it’s your task as a project and program manager to get your stakeholders and sponsors identify that business value. Doing so will help you, your team, and the stakeholders focused on the delivery of that business value and will ensure that during the planning phases, the project’s and program’s deliverables and milestones are tied to the delivery of that business value.

Business value is delivered in many ways, some of which are as follows: