Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
To prevent earthquakes, a carefully balanced stone pins the fish down. If the stone is not balanced, the fish thrashes and an earthquake results. And so it is in countless large organizations today, where the risk of imbalance across their project portfolios is a real and present danger to the ability to create value.
A central premise of Connecting The Dots is that organizations are working to deliver on three sets of objectives. Collectively, these objectives represent a companys intentions. Run the business Short-term objectives (operational) Grow the business Long-term objectives (more strategic) Transform the business Adapting for the future (trait objectives)
Misalignment Exposed
Plotting of Projects to Intentions
Short-Term Objectives Long-Term Objectives
Performing the simple exercise of plotting the project portfolio within the Intentions Framework provides a snapshot of opportunities for greater alignment. These opportunities exist whenever: Objectives do not overlap or complement one another
Projects dont deliver toward any objectives, falling outside the framework altogether Project investment is overly concentrated in one objective
11
Most executives already know their project portfolios are not delivering as expected. Reaching toward the aspirational view of alignment is not about spending moreits about getting greater return on what youre already spending. Movement toward the aspirational view captures hidden value by:
= Project
Aligning projects with objectives Aligning projects with other projects Aligning the organization and portfolio with the new realities of the business context
13
Alignment Tools
Alignment Tools
Tool Description
Assesses, plans, and measures trait development
Trait Meters
Connecting The Dots provides seven practical tools you can use to move toward greater alignment. Several of these tools deliver a clearer understanding of your portfolio and what its aiming to achieve. Others are suited for use in building options you can use to adapt to the future, rather than trying to predict it.
Direction, efficiency
Sides
Removes bias and finds synergies by sorting projects into main business activities
Direction, efficiency
Common Threads
Project Chunking
Structures projects into bite-size chunks that deliver incremental, stand-alone value
What-if Planning
15
17
C O N N E C T I N G T H E D OTS
Aligning Projects with Objectives in Unpredictable Times
DELOITTE CONSULTING PARTNER CATHY BENKO AND HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR F. WARREN M C FARLAN
At a time when corporations are cash-constrained, yet under enormous competitive pressures, the authors answer a critical question: How can an enterprise best align its spending with its strategic priorities? Connecting The Dots is a must-read.
HANK PAULSON, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs
Its rare to find a book that offers both insight and practical guidance for driving greater value. Connecting The Dots does just that, regardless of what industry you are in. And it does so in a way that you can use when you get into the office tomorrow.
CHRIS POLEWAY, President FORTUNE Group Magazines
Aligning business direction, cultural traits and information technology sounds simplebut it never is. Connecting The Dots is a refreshing and practical guide for getting it done.
RALPH SZYGENDA, CIO of General Motors
Connecting The Dots is groundbreaking work. Alignment has eluded executives for decades resulting in obscene amounts of waste. Benko and McFarlan team up to provide what hasnt been accessible before: a practical, richly balanced framework that starts with what is and powerfully guides the reader to what can and should be.
RICHARD L. NOLAN, William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School