Benefits Realisation Management (BRM)

A process originally named Benefits Management, Benefits Realisation

Management is defined as the process of organising and managing, so that
potential benefits, arising from investment in change, are actually achieved.
(https://books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=2IfFQY_XrfAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Benefit+Realisation+Manage
ment&ots=r79jNTFz3i&sig=VEOevOodEoZ6TQbYxa988FkYLxw#v=onepage&q=
Benefit%20Realisation%20Management&f=false)
This is a continuous process running through the complete life-cycle. It should be
the core process of any initiative and involves a lot more than a few benefit
event at the beginning of the process.
BRM should be the driver for all change and programme activities, including:

Defining requirements and acceptance criteria;

Helping establish and maintain Blueprint;
Determining project and programme boundaries
Developing programme and project plans;
Identifying risks;
Informing the Business Case;
Ongoing monitoring and reviews.

Initially, BRM identifies the starting position (current status, drivers for change,
stakeholders and cultural factors); next, it articulates and establishes the end
point (vision supported by objectives and benefits) through active engagement
with the business. Then, and only the, BRM determines the changes required to
achieve this goal.

The BRM process can be applied to individual projects and programmes,

portfolios of these, or to business strategy. Its application should be particularly
fruitful in the area of mergers and acquisitions, where recent research has
revealed that 83% of mergers fail to achieve announced expectations, and nearly
a half of all acquisitions are divested in five years.
Managers can be sceptical about this process, discarding it as yet another
management fad, as their organisation is already overwhelmed with different
approaches, such as the Balanced Scorecard, Value Management, Lean Thinking,
etc. Though BRM is relatively new, its elements are found in many other
management approaches, consisting therefore of an approach for which all
others have been waiting, bringing meaning and purpose to activities such as
change management, requirement analysis, project management and
programme management; for which reason, it is said to be much more than a
mere fad. BRM is said to be the glue that binds together all other management
techniques.

Concious Compentence Model

The Conscious Competence Model was developed by psychologist Noel Burch in
the 1970s, and it is designed to suggest how skills and relationships are
mastered. It fell into obscurity for decades until it was resurfaced as a powerful
perspective for human resource management. The four-stage model describes a
persons path from ignorance to mastery:

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence

The person starts with a considerable lack of ability to accomplish what
they are trying to do, being simultaneously completely unaware of this. In
many cases, they even think they are rather good at it, which gets in the
way of improvement.

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence

The person has now realised that there is much more to what they are
trying to achieve than they had realised, and that they do not have such a
profound understanding of the subject as they had thought. In this stage,
the consciously incompetent individual may become overwhelmed by
what seems to be a vast knowledge are he cannot quite grasp.

Stage 3: Conscious Competence

The individual has overcome what they did not know and started the path
of learning. They now execute tasks much more successfully, but the
required focus and attention slow down the process.

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence

In this final stage, the individual has internalised the knowledge and can
utilise their understanding without active thought or concentration. Tasks
are completed with grace and speed.

http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Conscious+Competence+Model
https://www.uie.com/articles/four_stages_competence/

Kolbs Learning Cycle

Kolbs Learning Cycle is the most widely used learning theory. There are four
major stages, starting with Concrete Experience:

1. Concrete Experience The cycle begins with the individual, team or

organisation being assigned a task. Therefore, the key to learning is active
involvement. In Kolbs model, one does not learn simply by reading or
watching about it; in order to learn, the individual, team or organisation
must actually do.
2. Reflective observation This stage consists of stepping back from the task
and reviewing what has been done and experienced. Many question are
asked and communication channels are opened to other members of the
team. Vocabulary is very important in discussions.
3. Abstract Conceptualisation This is the process of making sense of what
has happened; it therefore involves interpreting the events and
understanding the relationship between them. The learner may draw upon
theory from textbooks for framing and explaining events, familiar models,
ideas from colleagues, previous observations, or any other knowledge they
have developed.
4. Active experimentation The final stage involves the learners
consideration of how to put what they have learnt into practice. This
planning enables taking the new understanding and translating it into
productions as to what will happen next or what actions should be taken to
refine or revise the way a task is handled. Most people need to put their
learning in a context that is relevant to them in order for it to be useful, or
else it may be forgotten fairly quickly.
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/gradschool/training/eresources/teaching/theori
es/kolb

Kurt Lewins Change Model

Kurt Lewin developed a change model comprised of three steps: unfreezing,
changing and refreezing. It is a very simple and practical model for
understanding the change process. Firstly, it is necessary to create the
awareness that a change is needed, then moving toward the new, desired level
of behaviour, and finally solidifying this behaviour as the norm. It is a widely used
model, and serves as the basis for many modern change models.
1. Unfreezing Before change can be implemented, it must go through the
initial state of unfreezing. People in the organisation will naturally resist
change, which makes this stages goal to create an awareness of how the

status quo is hindering the organisation. It must be shown to employees

how change is necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage by
thoroughly examining old behaviours, ways of thinking, processes, people,
and organisational structure. Communication is especially important at
this stage, so that employees will be properly informed and forewarned
about the imminent change, the logic behind it, and how it will benefit
them. The idea is to make people conscious of the urgency of the change
so as to motivate them to accept it.
2. Changing People are now unfrozen, so they may begin to move. This
step is marked by the implementation of the change. People often struggle
with the new reality at this stage; it is a time marked with uncertainty and
fear, and so it is the hardest step to overcome. Preparation is important for
this step to be completed smoothly. Education, communication, support
and time are therefore critical for employees as they become familiar with
the change. The reasons for the change and the benefits it will bring the
employees must be reminded to them.
3. Refreezing The name of this stage symbolises the act of reinforcing,
stabilising and solidifying the new state after the change. Changes that
were made to organisational processes goals, structure, offerings or
people are accepted and refrozen as the new norm. Lewin found this step
especially important to prevent people from reverting back to their old
ways of thinking or doing. Positive acknowledgements of individual efforts
are often used in refreezing, as it is believed that this encourages a
repetition of this behaviour. It is sometimes argued that this step is
outdated, as there is a constant need for change within an organisation.
Spending time freezing a new state is said to be unnecessary, as it will
probably need to be evaluated and changed again in the near future.
http://study.com/academy/lesson/lewins-3-stage-model-of-change-unfreezingchanging-refreezing.html

MoSCoW Priorisation
MoSCoW is a technique for helping understand priorities of requirements. The
letters stand for:

Must have this

Should have this if at all possible
Could have if it does not affect anything else
Wont have this time but would like in the future

Must requirements are non-negotiable; if they are not delivered, the project is
a failure. What can be delivered and will be useful should, therefore, be agreed
upon. Features that would be nice to have fall under the categories of Should
and Could.
Requirements marked as Wont are potentially as important as those under
Must. Classifying something as Wont acknowledges its importance, but
allows it to be thought of only in the future.

Once a set of requirements has been prioritised, it can be compared against the
other planning aspect of the project, such as scope, quality, timescale and
resources, and risk statement produced.

http://www.coleyconsulting.co.uk/moscow.htm

Requirements Management Tools

Requirements management tools help to manage requirements development
and requirements management processes. Manually managing various intensive
tasks in gathering requirements would be unfeasible and time consuming.
Appropriate requirements management tools will help software developer teams
save time and increase their productivity.
The necessity of use of requirements management tools is dependent upon the
number of requirements and the size of the project team. Small projects with
less than 200 requirements can be easily managed with the use of spreadsheets,
and a commercial requirements management tools is not needed for a project
having less than five members in a team and they are co-located.
Requirements management tools provide a document repository database for
multi-party editing; most of them share the same core functions, and they can be
classified into:
1- Heavyweight Requirements Management Tools These are fully integrated
solutions which manage the requirements management lifecycle from
start to end. Heavy investment is needed and they are lucrative for large
projects.
2- Middleweight Requirements Management Tools These are more
appropriate for medium-sized organisations or business units within large
organisations. Heavy investment is not needed, and they will come with a
fully defined set of processes.
3- Lightweight Requirements Management Tools - These are best suited for
small projects by small companies. They can use wiki type collaborative
workspaces, databases, spreadsheets, and email based collaborations.
Lightweight tools are inexpensive or even free.
http://www.academia.edu/5132154/Needs_Types_and_Benefits_of_Requirements_
Management_Tools

Storyboarding
Storyboard is a tool that helps to communicate how a user would experience a
product or service and how the proposed design will help them accomplish their
goals. It is a methodology that originates in the film industry and visually
describes the users interaction with the product or service on one or more frame
by showing the key experience touchpoints.
Storyboards are very useful for making clients and customers understand design
ideas and decisions. They may also be used in workshops in order to gather

feedback and help identify areas of potential improvements or missing features.

Storyboards may be seen as quick prototypes of the experience.
The design of the storyboard can be designed in many different ways, the most
common of which is a sequence of images or sketches accompanied by a short
description of the actions the user is taking.

http://www.businessdesigntools.com/2011/12/storyboards/

Timeboxing
A timebox is a previously agreed upon period of time during which a person or a
team works steadily towards the completion of a goal. The timebox approach
consists of stopping work when the time limit is reached and evaluating what
was accomplished, rather than allowing work to continue until the goal is
reached. This is the critical rule of timeboxing, and the review of the progress
must answer: has the goal been met, or partially met, if it included multiple
tasks?
Timeboxes can be used at varying time scales (the pomodoro technique
organises personal work around 25-minute timeboxes). Time scales ranging from
one day to several months have been used.