I am currently in feasibility and I've to study 5 scenarios with my team.
Goal is to give for each : total cost 5Y, business value, risks, change complexity, technical feasibility, strategic alignment, adhrence with others solutions... Then I will have to present results to my sponsor and to the management so they will select the scenario.
I've 6 weeks for this part of the study. A real challenge.
Do you have some tips, advices to share? A method to lead this study and to be the more complete and efficient possible? Some templates to share?
Thanks in advance for your help! Saving Changes...
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Vijay SuryavanshiProject Manager - Engineering| RECARO Aircraft SeatingPlantation, Fl, United States
Hi Adeline,
Agree that it is a difficult task. But u have to work with stakeholders to gather a lot more data or information before presenting scenarios.to your Steering committee or upper management.
Here is link below. that explains in detail the SCENARIO planning with different outcomes, along with some examples.
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Basically we use the same in my actual work place. The driver I implemented in my actual organization is to demostrate into each scenario that everybody that will use the solution will be more rich with the solution than without it, where reach do not means more money only. To do that, it is important to define the client that will receive the solution and will use it to understand the value we will deliver with it and to understand that the whole organization (your company) will change when the solution is delivered and created. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
For a more theoretical approach, you could read business analysis standards, either BABOK or from PMI. Templates to use are many, like the business model canvas. Short courses are many, e.g. in coursera.
It is most important to understand your sponsor's expectations, as they should have seen a business case before. Can they share it with you?
And then, all you do is looking into the future. This is uncertain and stays uncertain. Regardless how much energy and analysis you put into the task. So be clear for yourself when enough is enough and decide to stop. They will always find gaps and ask for more. A good strategy to mitigate this is to give them something to help.
Here are some tips how todo that:
https://hbr.org/2023/01/designing-jobs-right
It is important that you establish trust among the people you will present to. For example by talking with them beforehand, listening to them, trying to understand their motivations. For the sponsor, make sure they are not surprised by anything you present. Saving Changes...
Make sure you provide the assumptions underlying each scenario's predictions. Also, provide ranged estimates or confidence levels rather than single point values.
By that I mean evaluate each project layer by layer, starting at a high level before digging too deep into the details. You can waste a lot of time putting many decimal points of precision to variables that ultimately don't really matter.
In my current job, I was just assigned to do essentially the same thing before my team goes off to tackle the opportunities we recommend over the next 7+ months. We have a lot less than 6 weeks before our sponsors expect to see actionable recommendations.
I gave everyone 1 week to use their best intuition and investigate each of their projects, define a clear problem statement, and a rough timeline that explains their solution approach. That week is unstructured. They need to explore and explain their own problem and solution approach without my interference.
Next week, we will review everybody's 1st cut of Problem with Plan, learn from each other's approaches, review them with a high level advocate/stakeholder for input, and peel the next layer off the onion.
If you have 6 weeks, I would budget 1 week to align yourselves to the scenarios, 4 weeks to peel the onion, and 1 week to polish your recommendations. Saving Changes...
