Martyn R Phillips

In Search of Value - Part 2, Methods Martyn R Phillips

This book continues from a) "In Search of Value - Closing the Performance Gap with Value Assurance- Overview" b) " In Search of Value Part 1, Managing Expectations: Understanding the Conditions for Success" Part 2 emphasizes strategic aspects in particular, because these are the areas that produce the most dramatic and influential impacts. Key topics are: strategic alignment, value improvement, risk management, cost management, project controls and financial evaluation. The book outlines a number of best practices and in doing so, it challenges us to take a broader and longer-term view of the work we undertake. Thinking outside our comfort zones requires us to be receptive to new ideas and to those of others. This calls for broader and less defensive thinking, such that the end result is not merely "more of the same". The Value Search approach fits well with the methodology of the US SAVE International, the Project Management Institute (PMI) knowledge areas, the UK PRINCE2 project management process, the European Standard on Value Management (EN 12973:2000) and ISO 31000:2009, Risk Management Principles and Guidelines, along with industry acknowledged Value Improving Practices (VIPs). Application of the Value Search process fast-tracks a common understanding of program and project problems, potential solutions and related implications, together with guiding the consensus-building and decision-making processes. This book is part of a series with an international flavour that provides a comprehensive, firm and timeless grounding in the basics of a number of program and project improvement approaches. The series does not advocate yet another specific methodology, but encapsulates clearly a number of best practices for application and integration across a broad range of situations from strategic planning, through development and implementation to optimization of existing services. This series guides the reader through a logical progression from expectations of performance, through group dynamics and thinking, to methodologies for achieving solid, measurable results in a very short time. Readers from executive to student levels will find a succinct and interesting description of the many considerations for development and implementation of sustaining solutions to a variety of problems and opportunities.