Bestoutcome

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Bestoutcome's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Bestoutcome is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.bestoutcome.com

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

14 | BESTOUTCOME

David Walton, managing

director, Bestoutcome

Too many change programmes fail to deliver to time, budget

and expected outcomes. Bestoutcome alleviates this issue

by creating innovative programme management software,

including their PM3 toolkit, that helps deliver successful change

programmes. In a world that is becoming more complex they strive

for simplicity. As founder and managing director David Walton

elaborates here, one must always focus on the outcomes – the

clue, of course, is in their name.

Based in Gerrards Cross, we began life in 2000 in the bedroom of a residential home

– we now operate from an office complex in leafy Buckinghamshire. As the founder

of Bestoutcome, I have run many large-scale transformation programmes and have

reviewed numerous projects of varying scale. There is a huge amount of wasted

economic resources in programmes that are either late, over-budget or not delivering

their expected outcomes. Our mission at Bestoutcome is to help organisations deliver

programme success with the right people, the right processes, and the right tools.

There are many programme management toolsets in the market and when I was

running a large transformation programme for an iconic UK retailer, I was frustrated by

the fact that all these tools seemed to focus on planning a myriad of detailed activities,

not focusing on ensuring the programme outcomes were on track to be delivered. In

2007, we decided to develop our own methodology and toolset called PM3, which

enabled programme managers to always focus on the programme outcomes.

Invisible targets are hard to hit?

One of the causes of programme failure is that the original goals and outcomes

are defined at the start of the programme but over time tend to be forgotten, the

programme veering away from the target. PM3 always highlights and focuses on the

outcomes, asking the question “Are we still on track to deliver these outcomes?” It is

surprising how this seemingly simple philosophy has brought countless programmes

back on track when the original outcomes have been identified as being at risk of

not being delivered. In some extreme cases the use of PM3 has highlighted to the

organisation that a certain programme is so far away from delivering the expected

outcomes that it must be terminated. This is drastic, but it saves wasting valuable and

scarce economic resources which could be better deployed elsewhere. Stopping failing

programmes is never an easy thing to do because of the sunk investment, but it can be

the right course of action for the organisation. Having empirical data in PM3 highlighting

why the programme needs to be ended helps stakeholders make the right decision.

Who uses PM3?

Virtually every sector, private and public, undertakes projects and programmes. PM3

is used by a range of sectors including health, retail, local councils, financial services,

legal and hospitality.

Our biggest client base within the health sector has been the NHS. The NHS is

constantly endeavouring to deliver better value services for its patients and to use its

resources more efficiently. We have over 15 NHS organisations that use PM3.

Bestoutcome

FACTS ABOUT

BESTOUTCOME

»Managing director: David

Walton

»Established in 2000

»Based in Buckinghamshire

»Services: Development of

innovative programme

management software that

helps deliver successful change

programmes

»No. of employees: 15

»Turnover: £1.5 million

»ISO 27001 accreditation

»www.bestoutcome.com

15BESTOUTCOME |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

Our software, which is accessible

by iPad, PC or any mobile device,

has helped the NHS deliver truly

transformational programmes. The

access to real-time data on project

and programme progression allows

programme managers in the NHS to

“take the temperature” of critical

change programmes, including Quality,

Innovation, Productivity and Prevention

(QIPP). QIPPs are large-scale programmes

that aim to transform the NHS through

quality care improvements.

Through automation PM3 improves the

productivity of programme managers

in the NHS and the access to real-time

data on programmes enables early

intervention on failing programmes,

bringing these important initiatives back

on track. The later the intervention on a

failing programme the greater the cost

that is incurred. In some cases, if the

intervention is too late, the programme

cannot be brought back in line.

What’s different about our

technology?

At Bestoutcome we strive to keep it

simple. Complexity and confusion is

ruthlessly eliminated from our software.

Programme managers and executives

are very time-poor so it is important

to present information in a simple

and uncluttered way. We employ user

experience experts to ensure that the use

of our software is as simple as possible. In

our experience, complexity usually leads

to the poor uptake of any software.

Different types of people with varied

roles use our software and each role

is presented with a specialised set of

screens and information which are

specific to that role – one-size-fits-all

does not work. Users of PM3 appreciate

this personalisation of the tool.

There are many things that can go wrong

with a change programme, and often it is

the people-change aspects that have not

been properly addressed. Our software

prompts the project and programme

managers to consider the change aspects

of delivering successful programmes.

Too often it is only the technical aspects

of these types of programmes that

are considered. In reality it is both the

technical – software and hardware –

and

change – training, engagement

with stakeholders and communication

– aspects that need to be managed for

change programmes to be successful.

What’s different about

Bestoutcome?

We are not just a technology company.

Our consultants have delivered large-scale

transformation programmes and this

experience makes us different from many

other tool vendors in the marketplace.

This knowledge helps us build practical

programme management solutions

which work the way programme

managers work. Our extensive experience

with change programmes also helps

when implementing our solutions for our

clients. Our software implementation is a

project in its own right and we manage

it accordingly. Clients are receptive to the

fact that we are not just tool vendors but

can also advise on programme delivery.

The future – predicting

programme failure

Our PM3 software captures current

and historical programme information

in an industrial-strength database.

We can then use leading-edge

business intelligence (BI) and artificial

intelligence (AI) software to analyse the

historical programme information of an

organisation. Using BI and AI tools, we

can predict the future; that is, which

programmes are likely to fail. Instead

of using our software to highlight

programmes that are failing and

therefore need early intervention to be

brought back on track, we can deliver

even more economic benefit by using

our tools to predict which programmes

are likely to fail before they are failing

and why. Armed with this information

an organisation can intervene and

address reasons for future failure

before they happen. This is exciting

and has the potential to deliver massive

economic benefit to organisations that

must deliver change programmes –

which is nearly all of them.

Europa House,

Bestoutcome head

office

With PM3 we

always focus

on the

outcomes.

Invisible

targets are

hard to hit!

“

www.bestoutcome.com

This article was sponsored by Bestoutcome. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister