From a Pointless to a Prosperous Parade of Projects
- Per Lindstedt
- Jan 27
- 2 min read
How can an organization overwhelmed by the Parade of Pointless Projects be transformed into one that thrives? Most advice on how to transform organizations sounds great on a PowerPoint slide, but let's face it – it's easy to say buzzwords like 'prioritize high-impact projects' or 'foster a culture of transparency.' A bunch of trivial statements like that doesn't help anyone. It just creates even more frustration. In this post, I will cut through the noise and provide a surprisingly simple solution to the problem.
In Part 1, I shared some examples of Pointless Projects and explained why they exist. In Part 2, I outlined the options available for those feeling trapped on the treadmill of Pointless Projects. Now, drawing on my experience of training thousands of development engineers across dozens of projects and many global companies, I have discovered a surprisingly simple solution.
It is not about reforming your organization's processes. It is not about buying new, advanced software or learning a trendy management technique. I am sure your organization has already tried, tested, and failed to achieve substantial improvements from such activities.
Customer Value is the reason customers buy your products, and the lack of it is why others don't. Therefore, the solution is to put Customer Value at the heart of everything your organization does. Customer Value is probably not a new concept, but what is new is the way it is transformed into a practical tool. Customer Value needs to be broken down from a mere buzzword into insights that support all R&D activities and decisions.
You likely know the cost of your product down to the last penny, but can anyone in your organization provide a metric for Customer Value?
A few years ago, we implemented this approach as a key component of a larger program in a global company. After running training sessions and workshops and supporting pilot projects, we checked in with the program manager about a year in. He smiled and said that most of the Pointless Projects had vanished – poof! Like magic! Projects that failed a simple acid test of Customer Value were killed, put on hold, or never started.
Fast forward another year, and they were celebrating a series of successful new product launches. Over the next 3-4 years, the output from R&D, measured by the vitality index, had tripled. The organization had transformed into a high-achieving machine, and people enjoyed working on these inspiring, motivating projects.
Become a Certified Professional who masters Customer Value and knows how to create WoW Products? Trust me, it will be worth it – I am not getting any younger, and I need more people to carry the torch!
Per Lindstedt
From a Pointless to a Prosperous Parade of Projects
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