Many progressive organisations have introduced programme management as a superior activity that will keep control of projects. This lets the risk be contained within programme management (under thme care of senior management) and authorises projects based on planning that identifies and deals with risks, so that middle management can drive things through without problems.
This idea is presented in the book on page 163, and the discussion goes on to provide a detailed discussion of how benefits can be more effectively planned, and managed, when there is a regime of programme management that is specifically established to understand and balance cost, risk and benefits.
Looking at the detail of project management, on page 70 the book presents the 'V model' as an alternative to the 'Waterfall model':
This model illustrates the important idea that a project is a journey from one high level of thinking (when a project is initiated), down to the nitty-gritty of program coding and testing, and then back up through integration and acceptance testing to the higher level, where benefits can be seen in the operating business.
 |