PMBoK7 Perspectives: Focus on Value

In this edition of Project Pointers, we’ll explore how project managers can focus on delivering value the business, one of the new elements of project delivery in the Project Management Institute’s seventh version of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK7.) Here are a few significant ways to deliver value to your business as you manage projects. 

• Focus on your approach, not just outcomes. The way project managers deliver their projects can be as important as the outcomes they deliver. Many projects are disruptive because they take operational leaders away from their day-to-day duties. Project managers who focus on value consult with the business regarding the scheduling of work. When deadlines are in jeopardy, they strive to understand business circumstances. For example, project team members may be temporarily called away to address an urgent situation that’s a higher priority than the project. Considering this, project managers keep stakeholders apprised of project status and listen when concerns are raised. The business will be more likely to engage in future projects when there is a focus on professional project delivery throughout the project lifecycle, as well as the outcomes projects produce. 
• See value as qualitative and quantitative. PMI defines value as “the worth, importance or usefulness of something.” It’s important to understand that stakeholders’ assessment of the value of “usefulness” involves a lot more than how deliverables satisfy a business case. Value is determined by how deliverables support familiar processes and are integrated with tools and downstream processes, much more than what balance sheets show. The difference between a deliverable and a solution is how stakeholders accept it as part of their daily routine. You contribute value when deliverables are viewed as a solution.
• A valuable project is only the beginning. Project delivery that embraces value leads to – more projects! Value received inspires confidence and generates more ideas for business improvement. These may generate project change requests to add scope, which can add value (as well as introduce risk.) Great project managers discuss how to maximize value, either by incorporating the change request or staging the request for phase 2 of the project. And they learn from those requests how to design downstream projects to deliver further improvements. In that way, delivering value is the start of an improvement journey, not the end.
• Value supports strategy. The way projects are delivered can support or detract from corporate strategy. For example, a new business application could rely on an existing technical platform, or it can take advantage of a new architecture that is part of the corporate strategy. In a different context, a building may be constructed with sustainable principles in mind, utilizing clean energy and eliminating waste. Though it may be more difficult to support strategic initiatives, good project managers work with their teams and senior stakeholders to guide their projects to satisfy the short- and long-term goals of corporate strategies.  

If you have suggestions for focusing on value in projects, share with us in the comments section.

For more about delivering value, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming Up

Recording for Project 2021 and Project Online Desktop Client Essential Training is complete. Look for the course to be published in a few months.