An introduction to THE PROMISE (an excerpt from the ‘naked’ and summary versions)

Current approaches to projects are too complex, too costly and deliver too little value. What does this mean to senior management, at arm's reach from the actual projects and more interested in results than specifics? It means that the projects you are ultimately responsible for routinely miss, lose or destroy more value than they deliver – meaning you lose more than 50% of the available value on most projects. But while this degree of value loss is both astounding and appalling, it also means that dramatic improvement is quite possible.

The problem has not been addressed to date simply because there has been no alternative to the traditional, ineffective way of doing things. Now there is – Totally Optimized Projects™ (TOP™); a business value-based approach to projects that can be easily used to lead, direct and govern projects successfully. TOP™ provides the first integrated, holistic approach to project delivery able to conquer many of the problems with projects that are now accepted as ‘inevitable’. Using TOP™, we’ve found that most of those problems are easily avoidable.

To visualize the problem, think of current project delivery as a 3-D jigsaw in which some bits are missing, other bits don’t fit together, and others are the wrong size or shape. It’s a mess. It’s a mess because project delivery is currently made up of many different components, some of which are based on mistaken premises, constraining standards, or focused on the wrong outcomes.

I'm not saying this is a chronic condition - no doubt many of you will be able to point to a project that came in on time, on budget, and met all expectations. And that's great. At times the stars align with the right people in the right place at the right time and a great result is achieved. But unless you can achieve this kind of result consistently, you'll be the first to know your projects can improve.

To achieve consistency your projects need to be focused on, driven by and measured in terms of business value. They need to be clearly defined and measured in terms of …

• Business end states to be delivered
• Business benefits to be delivered
• Financial value to be realized
• Strategic contribution to be made
• Performance improvement to be achieved
• Optimum time and cost

This may sound too good to be possible or even utopian, but it's not a pipedream; it should be the required standard for successful project and value delivery. The good news is that those results are not only possible, but the TOP™ approach is easy to understand, adopt, and apply.

Over the past 20 years we have reviewed, analysed, researched, developed and tested a set of business value focused project delivery approaches on hundreds of projects, and we've proven that they consistently deliver a quantum increase in results in less time and for less cost.

These approaches are business and strategy based. They are not extensions of current project management methodologies, but rather fundamentally refocus these methodologies. They redefine project management. They redefine a project’s objectives and measurements of success. They integrate projects into the business to generate greater results faster and earlier. Sure, the approach may be rejected by project managers who can't think ‘business value’ or can't conceive of all projects being ‘change projects’, or just don’t want to change. We've met many disbelievers who only changed their minds after the results had been shown to them. And TOP™ offers a two-way pledge. Yes, TOP™ asks project managers to deliver better results faster; but it also promises them better inputs, direction, and support by the business.

Now you have a choice. You can continue to miss, lose or destroy more value than you deliver from your projects; or you can take control and redirect your projects from the idea stage onwards to identify and deliver the optimum business value. You'll find that the change in results, in terms of business value realized, is exponential. Hence Totally Optimized Projects’s value proposition, its promise – more projects of more value in less time and for less cost.

Its simple. And it's your choice