“The Question should be - is it worth trying to do, not can it be done”

01/09/2008

Have you ever been involved in a new initiative? The introduction of a new process or new technology, the restructure of an organisation, and suddenly been asked, “Can someone explain to me why we're actually doing this?”

It seems that organisations are not very disciplined about questioning why something should be done, before planning how to do it.

There are two problems with this precipitate approach. Firstly, organisations waste significant amounts of time and resource on new initiatives, only to discover that they provide little or no benefit to the organisation. Secondly, organisations are too 'busy' with the afore-mentioned initiatives to be able to consider taking on unquestionably worthwhile, but very difficult, complex new projects. Or these more complex projects fail because they do not have the correct amount of skilled resource allocated to them.

This is definitely not a 'Best Practice' approach. Both the ITIL® framework for IT Service Management and the PRINCE2™ project management methodology stress the importance of asking 'why?' before considering 'how?'

In PRINCE2™ this is demonstrated by the importance of the Project Business Case, which is seen as the driving force behind the project. The Business Case weighs up the costs and risks of doing the project, against the expected benefits that project's outcome will provide to the organisation. Practitioners are left in no doubt that if a valid Business Case does not exist, the project should not be started, and if justification disappears part-way through the project, it should be brought to a close. The Business Case is considered a 'living document' that should be updated as the project progresses and, thus, it should always be able to prove why the business is doing this piece of work.

Another key element of PRINCE2™ is the starting-up a project process, known as 'pre-project preparation'. Many organisations dive straight into project Initiation without considering if the project is worthwhile and viable first. Start-Up ensures that we are doing the right projects for the right reasons and provides a firm foundation on which to base the important stage of initiation.

The ITIL® version 3 Lifecycle approach to IT Service Management also places a huge emphasis on understanding why something should be done, before thinking about how to do it.

The ITIL® Service Strategy publication talks in depth about the notion of using an organisation's assets to create value, and how IT has to be integrated with the Business in order to do this effectively. Before we design or change our IT services, we must consider our strategy by defining the market, before developing our offerings.

FGI, the ITIL® and PRINCE2™ experts, are in a unique position to be able to help organisations ask themselves 'why?' before considering any project. Through our blend of training, consultancy and mentoring, we can help you develop your people, process and technology to ensure that all three are aligned with your strategic objectives.

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