Masterclass Interview on Benefits Management with Laura Geddes-Brock

Laura Geddes-Brock, Head of Rail Benefits Management at the Department for Transport opens with a straight-forward definition of benefits management and then shares plenty of practical advice and examples on how to define, manage and realise benefits in a complex project environment.

[@rebeccacasey5062]

Excellent guidance. We will definitely share this as a learning resource with our business students.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

This is a really excellent interview - thank you both.

[@theotherside8258]

A benefit does not have to be tangible. Its makes things easy for the benefits manager to make the value for money (VFM ) argument but a business case can totally state an intangible benefit for overall consideration. Where savings are made you also need to consider where these savings go if you include in the VFM. The VFM can be flawed if they are not available to offset costs. You also need to make sure that some benefits when actuals are measured are not originating elsewhere -for example via demographic change. No mention of dis-benefits in this video. There can be a tendency for projects to have none because they have rolled them up with consolidated benefits calculations and 'nulled' them off because they are inconvenient to address. This should not really happen firstly because benefits should be calculated at a low level so you can see which components of a project are worth doing or not and secondly because the costs of a dis-benefit may not land where the benefit lands. There is also a tendency to merge an expensive low benefit analysis of some component with that of something that is huge benefit for low cost so that the project can continue with an aspect that is not really justifiable within priorities. The video also does not mention consideration of customer dis-benefit or benefits which should be happening for state projects and would be beneficial for many companies to consider. This would involve creating before and after user stories for customer or stakeholder groups and measuring time and expense or reputational/environmental impacts. Time can be given a monetary value. The burden or benefit to a customer must be understood and considered against the wider benefits of the project. In this day and age environment benefits and dis-benefits should also be getting measured not only for project purposes but for company or govt department audit and tracking purposes.