The Money Files

How many of your projects got started just because someone said they should? When times are tough – and in the UK there is certainly a tightening of belts happening – we need to make sure we are working on the right projects.

The pipeline is so important, and that’s why your business case needs to stand out – so you can secure the funding to get the work going.

Don’t think business cases are necessary? Let me change your mind. Here are 5 reasons why your project needs a business case.

1. A business case shows your project aligns with strategy

We do projects to make a difference and deliver change within the organisation. That change should be aligned to the strategy because then we can be sure it delivers to the overall plan for the business.

Your project is more likely to get funding if you can demonstrate it supports the organisation’s objectives.

2. A business case shows the work is commercially viable

Do the numbers stack up? This is what we ask ourselves in our project office – all the time. However good the idea, the project has to be viable. You need to be able to secure the supplies, equipment or resources at a rate that makes it financially attractive.

Use the business case to show the rationale for make-or-buy decisions, or explain why you have selected a particular supplier.

3. A business case shows the project will be a long-term financial success

Part of the work involved in putting together a business case is the thinking. It means you’ve secured support from various parts of the organisation. It means you’ve done the maths. There is a justification for delivery and you can evidence the thought process that sits behind that.

Generally that means that there is a commercial reason for doing it: for example updating old equipment that supports bringing in new business, or launching something that will sell. You should show consideration for costs along the whole product lifecycle, including decommissioning anything that is no longer required and the cost of managing the asset once it is created.

4. A business case shows you’ve selected the right response to a challenge

Business cases typically make a least a nod to other options that have been considered and rejected. There should be an options appraisal section that looks at a range of solutions and summarises pros and cons.

The document focus on the solution you are recommending, outlining why that’s the best choice. It should be clear why that route forward is the best fit for the organisation’s goals and capacity to deliver.

5. A business case shows the project management structure is in place to support the work

It’s no good securing funding for an idea but not having the first clue about how to implement it. The business case will have a section on implementation plans, covering what resources are needed (and how much they cost) and how long it will take. There should be an outline, high level plan with milestones. There will probably be some high-level risks, assumptions and constraints – the bones of a project initiation document or charter.

Help decision makers understand what they are signing up to and what is required to deliver the change, should they go ahead and approve it.

That’s why you should have a business case. What other reasons can you think of? Let me know in the comments!

PMI has released a new 2022 jobs report, which provides some insights into how the profession is looking around the globe. It’s not terrible, which chimes with my own experience here in the UK. I often mentor project managers who are looking for jobs and after interview practice or a CV review, and the market feels pretty good.

But anecdotal feedback aside, what do the numbers say about the future of the jobs market? Here are my key takeaways from the situation in Europe according the PMI survey.

Issues with supply chain

I know of projects that are on hold at the moment due to supply chain issues. My projects are being affected by longer lead times. Even buying a sofa is affected by long lead times: we have been told our sofa will arrive in 16 weeks and we can’t order an armchair because there is no fabric in stock.

So project managers might feel like the job situation isn’t too bad at the moment, but projects are certainly not progressing at the pace they used to. According to the PMI study, the supply chain issues have contributed to an inflation spike of 5%, which is going to affect salaries and put people under more pressure as the cost of living rises.

Demand for IT professionals

The report says that IT is the area to focus on if you are job hunting. The talent gap in this sector is huge, and there is a lot of tech funding around. Plus our ways of working since the pandemic began have massively changed – along with our customers’ expectations of what they can do online. That’s changed the requirements for many long-term projects and no doubt boosted the need for more IT project managers.

Hybrid working

If you are a European project manager who wants to live the hybrid life, watch out for what your employer expects. My takeaway from the PMI survey is that employers want more of us back in the office – and we don’t want to go. Only 28% of employers believe that the model of work they are offering is aligned to their employees’ preferences.

Employees want more hybrid and remote; employers want more bums on seats in the office. I’m not sure how we reconcile that to be honest. However, it is worth spending some time thinking about how you can make hybrid work for your project team. Nearly 60% of people report that remote and hybrid work options result in increased job satisfaction, and that has to be good for project team morale.

However, only 34% believe that remote options lead to greater productivity. Perhaps there is a backlash against only seeing your colleagues as a tiny head on MS Teams. I think that hybrid certainly has a place, and I know of project managers who have turned down roles that were not hybrid or remote-friendly.

Overall though, the outlook for work in the project sector in Europe seems optimistic. There is still a lot of concern about job security and the cost of living – although I can only speak for what I see here – but globally money is being made available to reinvent and innovate where we can.

If you want to succeed amidst the current global economic situation and all the uncertainties that brings, it would be good to focus on adaptability, change, flexibility and resilience as there are all the signs that these skills are going to be in demand for many years to come.

You hear it all the time: “We want our project managers to add value.” “How are you adding value to the organisation?” “I want to spend more time on valued-added activities.”

But what does adding value actually mean?

I’m not a great fan of buzzwords that I can’t explain and turn into practical actions, so I’ve given this topic quite a lot of thought over the years. Here are 5 things I think you can do to add value (in a meaningful way) as a project manager.

1. Team building

Projects are done by people. People make up teams. Groups of people don’t have the same impact as a well-functioning team. Therefore, spending time on team building is worthwhile and will create value for the organisation because you’ll be better at delivering whatever it is you are delivering.

Focus on creating a positive work environment. Think about what people need to get their tasks done. Look for roadblocks you can remove, processes you can streamline. Talk about the blockers and why they are a problem.

And get some fun in there too.

2. Tenacity

Being committed to the team and the job, and the project, is a sure way to add value because it increases the chance the project will actually get done. How many projects do you know of that started but didn’t have the momentum to get across the line? That’s what tenacity will help you avoid.

Assuming you are working on the right projects, the ability to follow through and get the work done is important for making sure your time pays off for the company.

3. Relationship-building

This is such a large topic, which includes resolving conflict, smoothing over awkwardness, being diplomatic while speaking truth to power, respectful challenge and knowing who to connect and when. There’s a whole bunch of soft skills (or power skills, as it is trendy to call them now) that fall into this bucket.

They are important because this is what helps you get work done even when the environment is tricky. The more you listen, the more you understand and the easier it is to get your projects done. You’ll understand more of the business context that lets you make the right decisions that – you guessed it – lead to delivering a higher-value result.

4. Control the process

Governance might not seem like a particularly value-added thing to do, but when you understand and use the processes of project management, you can structure, standardise, save time, automate, compare and improve so much more easily.

If you have a standard approach, however informal, everyone knows what to do and what to expect and that takes some of the uncertainty out of what is normally a pretty uncertain time for people – projects deliver change and that comes with an overhead of having to live with not knowing exactly what the future will look like. That can be an added source of anxiety and stress for the team and wider stakeholder community.

5. Change management

Projects start to feel out of control when change is not managed appropriately, and that’s when stakeholders start to get nervous. You can help your projects be more successful and ‘land’ better with the receiving organisation, if you manage change properly.

That goes for both the process-led effort of receiving and handling change requests as part of your project management work, and also integrating what you are delivering into the business in a way that makes it possible for the benefits to be received as soon as possible, with the least disruption. Benefits = value.

How do you interpret ‘adding value’ as a project manager? I think it could go much further than what I’ve written here. I’m sure there are many other ways of looking at our role and how we can serve our stakeholder communities in the most value-adding way. Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Benefits realisation management is one of the hardest things to do in a project setting (in my opinion) and in this video I explain why. I talk about three things that make it harder and give you a few tips on what you can do instead to help get over some of the challenges. The three things are:

• Low skill levels
• Poor integration
• Poor processes.

Watch the video below and then let me know whether you’ve seen any of these challenges in your organisation!

There is more detail in this article: 5 Barriers to Effective Benefit Realisation that draws on information from Carlos Serra’s PMI presentation on the topic.

What makes a project manager successful? It’s no secret that it’s hundreds of small decisions and behavioural traits. I’ve been thinking recently, as I’m writing a new book, about the things I believe make the biggest difference.

The infographic below isn’t based on scientific research, but on my experience working with project managers and leading teams. What do you think makes the biggest difference in whether a project manager is successful at work or not? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear!