Questions asked in the APM Introduction of BIG by Dave with his Responses

Members are invited to add there own answers or further questions

Item	Question	Response	Category
2	How can we link project benefits to a strategy. Do they link?	In a strategic project, the benefits will be planned to enable outcomes and objectives, so project benefits are expected in the strategic plan and project business case. If you are running a tactical project, where the benefits are not planned strategically (?) then you might not want to link to strategic objectives or you might do your best to suggest project benefits as linking to strategy.	Accountability
14	This is exactly the problem we face …. projects are usually well defined and we attempt to relate to OKRs but how should we try to get a portfolio view incorporating BAU which are focused on KPIs.?	“projects are usually well defined and we attempt to relate to OKRs” – this is the wrong way around. What are the OKRs, and which workloads do you need to achieve them? We achieve objectives, targets and challenges with projects, product and operational workstreams in BAU. These need metrics to demonstrate progress and achievement., hand-point-rightBAU will have KPIs to enable us to understand progress on BAU targets or stability/success of BAU process. BAU is not excluded from having Objectives and Key Results.	Accountability
23	What standing items did you have on your agendas?	The standard structure for an agenda has on it categories like Directions / Constraints, Day to Day Controls (e.g. Progress, value status), Exceptional Controls (issues / risks), day to day outputs (actions, decisions, escalations), hand-point-rightPlease see the Accountability sections of the BoK and the Appendix on Models (Chapter 9)	Accountability
24	How can you ensure that the current strategy is fit for purpose and benefits the company, and what are the most important metrics that indicate strategic success?	By: hand-point-right - Developing and managing the strategy systematically., hand-point-right - Achieve support from key stakeholders, hand-point-right - Where necessary, take external, independent advice, list“Benefits the company”?, hand-point-right - Defining measures on objectives to demonstrate progress, value and risk reduction, list“Strategic success”?, hand-point-right - Show how the aggregation of value from the objectives meets the organisation goals, copes with imperatives and correctly responds to opportunities and threats.	Assurance
6	Have you got any advice where governance is completely new. People have been managing projects ad-hoc.	Start with the prize. What is it you are trying to achieve? The big goal with BIG is to achieve greater strategic outcomes with more agility, more efficiently and effectively. The implication is integrated governance, and one of the implied delivery methods is project management.	Case Building
7	How do you get the Directors and Senior Leadership to adopt this principle?	As the answer to their needs. Establish their needs and position the relevant aspects to BIG against those. Don’t start with the book and lecture about how great BIG is.	Case Building
21	How can a project manager play his role in building project governance framework in an organization where program and portfolio managers are in the leadership role?	Yes. As one of the sparks for innovation, and as a stakeholder for BIG change. But a BIG change does need a senior leadership sponsor of it is to be strategic. But of course, there are many ideas within and components of BIG which can be used tactically at project and programme levels (e.g. Sample governance agendas)	Case Building
13	Have you got any advice for promoting this change when you are not the decision making	Engage the decision maker and show how their pains and expectations can be met using the BIG Capabilities. Pull them into a journey, not an implementation.	Case Building
10	How does BIG fit in with other P3M methods / models eg Praxis, P3O?	Change is one aspect to the workloads organisations have to achieve strategic objectives. Project Portfolio management, programme and project management are tools within that. We can also use projects and programmes for BAU delivery (e.g. Construction, professional services delivery, policy creation…) BIG provides the framework to connect all workloads – however they are managed - to purpose, vision and strategy. With respect ot Praxis – v1 of BIG was release through the Praxis Website.	Governance
5	How would you apply this to a large organisation with multiple different departments?	It depends on the sponsor and where the initiative originates from. If the CEO wants to improve strategy delivery, that is one approach. If you are the CFO wanting investment rigour and focus of spend on objectives, that’s another. A COO wanting to balance between run and change better. The CIO wanting to leverage IT investment and bring competitive advantage from IT another. A head of PMO wanting to fix projects into the business more effectively – another. The BoK identifies many possible protagonists. Hence – to answer the question – it depends, either top-down imposition or peer to peer persuasion.	Implementation
8	Hiw do you get product managers to buy into this governance approach?	It depends what you mean by ‘product manager’ and what role they play – for example are they managing technical development of products or helping to drive organisation strategy? Remember also – we are trying to plug them into the organisation more effectively, not tell them how to manage their products. What are their needs, and can they see how the vision enables / empowers them better?	Implementation
9	Can Business Integrated Governance work with and around OKRs? How would this work in practice?	Central to BIG is Accountability, and central to that is clarity of objective, target and challenge (OTCs). Each of these needs measures to evidence achievement. Hence, Objectives (targets and challenges) and Key Results (measures to evidence achievement) are central to the BIG Information backbone. In practice – the OKR dashboard is a central pillar in managing governance and accountability.	Information
18	How can organisations ensure that Business Integrated Governance doesn’t become just another bureaucratic layer, but truly empowers individuals and teams to contribute to strategic goals?	By effective leadership and provision of capable business support. The prize is greater strategic outcomes with more agility, more efficiently and effectively – not increased compliance management.	Leadership
11	I keep hearing about value streams via other webinars. How does this fit in with benefits and strategy?	A value stream represents the series of steps or processes an organisation undertakes to deliver a product, service, or value to a customer. We may create new value streams to achieve strategic goals, and our strategy may be inspired by existing value streams being innovative. ‘Benefits’ is a tool to enable projects / programmes to show how they lead to value., hand-point-rightValue streams play a crucial role in aligning benefits realisation with organisational strategy. They act as a bridge between strategic objectives and the tangible benefits planned for and delivered to stakeholders, ensuring that all efforts are streamlined to maximize value.	Organisation
17	Interesting that few organisations feel they are getting it right. Do you see strategy delivery as primarily BAU Or more stepwise change processes? Do you see governance for strategy as integrated	Governance for strategy is integrated. Strategy delivery is business as usual, but will include achieving objectives for change, BAU performance, and value creation (assets and products)	Organisation
20	How do we differentiate value creation, BAU and transform?	Best read the BIG BoK. These are useful definitions as their workloads are typically managed with different methods and deliver different types of value., hand-point-rightOur language has Value creation defined as the creation of products / assets. Clearly - we can do this with projects or BAU activity. Value generation is what emerges from BAU exploitation of products / assets. Change can lead to benefits and value.	Organisation
25	In your experience, how do the challenges for effective governance differ between large and small organisations?	Put simply - Small organisations have owner/directors that can reach and influence the organisation business units. There is a short chain of command through which meaning loss can occur (up or down). In larger organisations, the owners are not involved managing the organisation, and have to delegate and trust others – and there is a longer chain of command through which meaning loss can occur. In larger organisations, there are more dependencies to manage, and a greater array of information sources / processes to coordinate. In smaller companies, there is easier access to seniority to make decisions, and less inertial to overcome in implementing them.	Organisation
15	"stability (but not fixedness) in objectives and prioritisation is foundational to success”	“prioritisation is foundational to success” – agreed – else workloads that do not deliver against strategy waste organisation resources, hand-point-right“stability in objectives” – it depends on how responsive to opportunity / threat an organisation needs to be.	Prioritisation
16	How can we ensure that the “staying in business” objectives aren’t drowned in the shiny vision led ones?	Prioritisation.	Prioritisation
22	What criteria did you use for prioritising? Did it cover value and effort?	There are many methods for prioritisation. From simple emotion-based opinion canvassing to basic rating-based decision models to sophisticated pairwise analysis. The criteria depend on the group of things to be prioritised. Remember – we prioritise to support decision making on sequencing and deployment of funds / resources between candidates, and the most value for resources and funds may come out of not just picking the top priorities, but rather a mix which utilises resources best. Constraints (e.g. resources) and risk must come into decision making alongside priority. ‘Value’ is a criteria category of which monetary value is one kind, and some items may not have direct value in themselves, but they enable items which do and create a dependency., hand-point-rightA major difficulty in prioritising happens when trying to deploy resources cross-functionally – as manager X tasked with objective A and B might have not interest in supporting manager Y who has vital objective C.	Prioritisation
1	I think the use of the word ‘clear’ is the issue and it is difficult to cascade what that actual vision is	Agree. Clarity is one thing – for example, leadership may not wish to communicate every aspect to the vision. Cascade is another, as with every layer there is “interpretation”.	Strategic Process
3	What is the best way to define the objectives?	Our ‘golden thread’ in BIG links from opportunities, threats imperatives and goals (OTIGs) to purpose, to vision, to strategy (how to achieve the vision). Objectives are stepping stones in the strategy. Although framed at the business level – any point of accountability can use that approach, and this is offered as the best way to arrive at objectives. Defining objectives must ensure clarity, alignment, and measurability of goals. Type the question into ChaptGPT – it will elaborate against this generic question.	Strategic Process
4	How do you assess if strategy is fit for purpose?	Has the strategy been built following the approach above? Does it deliver on your vision (you decide) with an acceptable (you decide) level of risk? Is it clear and measurable? Do your stakeholder agree?	Strategic Process
12	Are most strategic objectives common, as in to be more sustainable, to be ‘best-in-class’, efficient etc? Would be good to know how they are tailored to suit certain organisations.	Objectives need to be defined and measurable. Things like “more sustainable, to be ‘best-in-class’, efficient” are not, therefore objectives – perhaps they represent stakeholder aspirations / worldviews that objectives can be developed for.	Strategic Process
19	I agree that strategy has to be in place, but we also need a Vision and Mission for the company. That end point is the short and long term blueprint. Your presentation seams to have not covered this?	The presentation covered the strategic process – getting from purpose to vision to strategy, objectives and the related business case / business planning documents. Short / long term blueprints are not explicitly mentioned but may be part of the strategy from which objectives can be derived.	Strategic Process