Assess the Value Drivers Within Your Solutions
Implement a balanced value measurement framework to align product roadmaps and projects with enterprise goals.
Multiyear waterfall projects and make-believe business cases are a relic of the past. Enterprise goals are more important than individual product goals.
- Most prioritization is based on stakeholder opinions and priorities.
- Resource and budget constraints reduce our capacity and time to “do it over.”
With the increasing need for greater business agility, we need a framework to better invest our limited resources.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
Value is relative, making it very easy to justify a stakeholder’s priorities, even when they are not aligned to enterprise priorities.
- Teams focus on throughput metrics and not value realization.
- Parties are not held accountable for value realization.
Exact outcome estimates ignore the complex and interconnected relationships among products, services, and applications. They are often used to justify work without accountability.
Impact and Result
Build a balanced value framework to align your entire enterprise behind your strategic goals and needs.
- Define the value drivers behind your enterprise goals, and prioritize them.
- Use a balanced value framework to compare disparate opportunities, so you can find those that will have the greatest impact on the success of your enterprise.
- Integrate your framework into your intake and value realization processes.
Creating value isn’t easy, but value drivers are attainable.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
9.0/10
Overall Impact
$77,749
Average $ Saved
50
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Victoria Mutual Building Society
Guided Implementation
9/10
$31,499
N/A
The feedback aligned with what we are currently doing but provided some enhancements to the process which I appreciated. Can't say I had a worst pa... Read More
Omaha Public Power District
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
Understood our objectives, knowledge and experience
Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago
Guided Implementation
9/10
$123K
50
BDO Canada LLP
Guided Implementation
9/10
$50,000
50
LPL Financial
Guided Implementation
10/10
$123K
5
Cole is extremely knowledgeable and helpful in providing the right lens to how to think about the process. I look forward to our future dialog to ... Read More
Data Recognition Corporation
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Great discussion, lots of insight from Cole.
Workshop: Assess the Value Drivers Within Your Solutions
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Define Your Value Drivers
The Purpose
Define your value drivers.
Key Benefits Achieved
Definition of value drivers.
Activities
Outputs
Understand relative value estimation.
- Understanding of how our prioritization decisions are affected by clear and common goals.
Trace value drivers to enterprise goals.
- Organizational Value Matrix
Apply the organization value matrix.
- List of starting value drivers
Module 2: Calculate Your Balanced Value
The Purpose
Calculate your balanced value.
Key Benefits Achieved
Value driver calculation method.
Activities
Outputs
Identify your scoring method.
- Balanced value scoring method
Apply MoSCoW scoring.
- Simplified: MoSCoW Balanced Value Framework scoring
Determine the impact of value drivers.
- Unweighted scoring Balanced Value Framework scoring
Use weighting to improve scoring.
- Weighted balanced value framework scoring
Module 3: Align Balanced Value Score With Intake Prioritization Processes
The Purpose
Align balanced value score with intake prioritization processes.
Key Benefits Achieved
Updated intake process.
Activities
Outputs
Insert balanced value scoring into your intake processes.
Define your reconciliation process reconciliation tiers.
Module 4: Measure Value Realization
The Purpose
Measuring value realization.
Key Benefits Achieved
Traceability between metrics and value drivers.
Activities
Outputs
Map KPIs, OKRs, and value metrics to value drivers.
- Traced value metrics to estimate value realization from intake items
Assess the Value Drivers Within Your Solutions
Implement a balanced value measurement framework to align product roadmaps and projects with enterprise goals.
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
Analyst Perspective
Use value drivers, not mythical estimates and intuition.
Value is probably the most challenging thing to define and measure in information technology (IT). Value is relative to the observer, and it is complex and often indistinct. The challenge is even harder when trying to compare and prioritize opportunities in different departments and service lines. Even when we are able to make hyper-localized prioritization decisions based on our day-to-day experience, how do we know if those decisions are the best uses of resources for our organization?
It’s time to flip the script. Instead of chasing discrete localized value, align your intake prioritization with value drivers assessed through key performance indicators (KPIs) or objectives and key results (OKRs). A value driver is a success factor or enabler that is directly aligned to an enterprise goal, making it actionable. We prioritize opportunities that have the best chance to influence and achieve enterprise goals.
First, understand what goals your organization wants to achieve. Next, determine what drivers or factors will bring you closer to these goals. Then, estimate the impact of each intake item to influence the drivers and achieve these goals. You can refine your estimation accuracy by tracing KPIs and OKRs to the value drivers, enabling you to measure the value or impact realized.
It’s not easy, but it will be more valuable than throw-away business cases that aren’t measured.
Hans Eckman
Principal Research Director, Application Delivery and Management
Info-Tech Research Group
Executive Summary
Your ChallengeMultiyear waterfall projects and make-believe business cases are a relic of the past. Enterprise goals are more important than individual product goals.
With the increasing need for greater business agility, we need a framework to better invest our limited resources. |
Common ObstaclesValue is relative, making it very easy to justify a stakeholder’s priorities, even when they are not aligned to enterprise priorities.
Exact outcome estimates ignore the complex and interconnected relationships among products, services, and applications. They are often used to justify work without accountability. |
Info-Tech’s ApproachBuild a balanced value framework to align your entire enterprise behind your strategic goals and needs.
Creating value isn’t easy, but value drivers are attainable. |
Info-Tech Insight
Solution value is not about revenue. Since value is relative to the consumer, prioritize opportunities by determining their impact on value drivers aligned to enterprise goals. A balanced value framework provides a way to compare disparate initiatives and changes across your enterprise, not by how much localized value they provide, but rather by how influential they would be for reaching the overall goals and priorities of your enterprise. That is the true measure of success!
Drive better decisions with a value-driven approach and framework
Value drivers provide an enterprise framework to connect organizational goals and priorities with your intake process, improving alignment to the goals that are valued the most by your senior leadership team.
Strategic Enterprise Goals
Value Drivers
Prioritization Framework
Include balanced value as part of your prioritization framework
Value unlocked in your product delivery pipeline is only as good as the return on investment (ROI) of the items prioritized and ready in your intake process.
Determine your value drivers
Competent organizations know that value cannot always be represented by revenue or reduced expenses. But how to envision the full spectrum of sources of value is not always apparent. Dissecting value by benefit type and orientation of the value source allows you to see the many ways in which a product or service can bring value to your organization.
Financial Benefits vs. Human Benefits (Improved Capabilities)
Financial benefits refer to the degree to which a value source can be measured through monetary metrics. They are often quite tangible.
Human benefits refer to how a product or service can deliver value through a user’s experience.
Inward vs. Outward Orientation
Inward refers to value sources that have an internal impact and improve your organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in performing its operations.
Outward refers to value sources that come from your interaction with external factors, such as the market or your customers.
Use product families to translate enterprise goals
Enterprise goals and priorities must be cascaded and interpreted down to the application, product, or service level, where changes can be made.
Without common goals, teams are independently successful but fail as an enterprise.
– Patrick Lencioni, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
For help validating or establishing your product and service families, download Deliver Digital Products at Scale.
Estimate your value scores
The key to prioritizing intake across disparate products and services is to shift evaluation from localized value to the impact that the change will have on the organization’s ability to reach its goals. A balanced value score determines which opportunities will have the greatest impact on, and alignment with, enterprise priorities.
Build your balanced business value score using key value drivers
Determine your scoring method
Find the approach that matches your organization’s ability to estimate intake items. Add quantitative metrics and complexity to improve estimation accuracy.
Simplified: MoSCoW
- Use MoSCoW to estimate the impact on each value driver.
Unweighted Scoring
- Estimate the impact (numerical) on each value driver to create a calculated score.
Weighted Scoring
- Estimate the impact (numerical) on each value driver.
- Multiply the impact by the value driver weighting to create a calculated score.
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 5-phase advisory process. You'll receive 5 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Scoping call
- Call 1:
- Scope your requirements, objectives, and specific challenges.
Guided Implementation 2: Define your value drivers
- Call 1:
- Understand relative value estimation.
- Trace value drivers to enterprise goals.
- Apply the organization value matrix.
Guided Implementation 3: Calculate your balanced value
- Call 1:
- Identify your scoring method.
- Apply MoSCoW scoring.
- Determine the impact of value drivers.
- Use weighting to improve scoring.
Guided Implementation 4: Align your balanced value score with intake prioritization processes
- Call 1:
- Insert balanced value scoring into your intake processes.
- Define the reconciliation tiers for your reconciliation process.
Guided Implementation 5: Measure value realization
- Call 1:
- Map KPIs, OKRs, and value metrics to value drivers.
- Update roadmaps based on achieved value driver impact.
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