Maximizing value propositions to increase project success rates

"1 Importance of Value Propositions No department within your organization has the copyright on generating good ideas. H. James Harrington Introduct ion Why would anyone write a book on value propositions? Why should you take time to read it? Well, value propositions are the first step in the process of transforming an idea or concept into tangible results. The value proposition is the document that should be used to drive all the significant change, growth, and improvement within an organization. We have worked with many organizations to help them define, document, and improve their major business processes. We are continuously surprised when asked by an organization to make a list of their major business processes and they do not include the process of transforming a concept or idea into a business initiative. In most organizations the initiation of a new business conceptor initiative is unstructured; it happens by random occurrence enhancements, almost accidentally, rather than by design. Sure, there are processes for new product development, performing market studies, for ordering capital equipment, suggestion programs, approving new projects, assigning resources, and so on. But when we asked the question, "What is the process for ensuring they are investing in the programs and initiatives that will give them the best long- and short-range results?" we find that they relied mainly on management experience. In reality, probably one of the most important processes within an organization is a process that collects all the possible product and performance improvement ideas and K16501.indb 1 10/31/13 3:47 PM 2 - Maximizing the Value Proposition? concepts, and then evaluates them to see which should be included in the organization's portfolio of approved projects/programs/"--