From Business Case to Boardroom – Using Benefits to Pick the Right Projects
Imagine being asked to choose dinner for a group of ten people without knowing if they’re vegans, meat lovers, or allergic to peanuts. You’re guaranteed to disappoint at least half of them. That’s how most organizations select projects: a buffet of random ideas, with little connection to strategy or to value.
No wonder portfolios are bloated with “pet projects.” PMI data shows that 20% of projects are so badly aligned with the goals of the organization that they should be stopped. They are soup served for the dessert course!
Why benefits matter more than deliverables
A shiny new IT system isn’t a benefit. Faster loan approvals, fewer data-entry errors, or happier customers … that’s the benefit, not the system itself.
Put another way, if you deliver the system but nobody uses it to deliver the business benefit, then your project failed regardless of whether you delivered on time and on budget.
The antidote? Start with benefits. Focus on benefits throughout the project.
I call this “focusing on the egg, not the duck”.
Confused? This video explains it all…
Whether you look at Steve Jenner’s Managing Benefits or frameworks like Queensland’s Business Case Development Framework, you’ll find that every project idea should be tested: What’s the problem? What outcomes do we want? Which benefits matter most? How does it compare to other projects?
Will it deliver the biggest and best egg?
Only then do you decide if it deserves resources.
The business case: portfolio bouncer
This is where PMOs can shine. We’re the portfolio bouncers outside the portfolio nightclub, keeping out weak projects that look good on paper but have no benefit muscle. A good intake process means:
- Make sure you thrash out real benefits (not vague “improve efficiency” waffle). Make them specific and measurable.
- Red flag projects where the “goal” is an output (e.g. we will deploy a new system). Make sure the business case is based around the value that new system delivers (it will reduce the number of claims by 10%).
- Using capacity planning to prevent resource overload. Overloaded resources are up to 40% less productive (American Psychological Association).
- You assess the risk to the benefit up-front. You’re trying to assess the probability of actually realizing the benefit before selecting the project.
Case in point: A government department I spoke with had 120 projects in flight. Resource overload meant only 20% were completed. The other 80%? A total waste of resources.
Imagine if they’d focused on only the 30% or 40% of the projects that delivered the strongest benefits, the biggest eggs. They could easily have successfully delivered all of these projects. In other words, they could have more than doubled the benefits they delivered.
Same resources. Different outcome simply by shifting focus from the goal being to deliver projects to a goal of maximizing benefits. Then you simply and intentionally select the projects that maximize benefits and that fit within your capacity.
Actually, there is a little more to it than that. You can learn how to deliver benefits from our Ultimate Guide to Benefits Management.
Closing the loop
So next time you’re in front of the board, don’t bring a help-yourself buffet of projects to the table. Bring a benefits portfolio, curated and organized. Focus on the eggs, not the ducks and remember, you can only fit so many eggs in your basket!
It’ll save money, boost credibility, and deliver real outcomes.
Because nobody wants to be remembered as the PMO that served peanut stew to the CEO.
If you’d like practical templates for defining and tracking benefits, check out our Ultimate Guide to Benefits Management.
Who Owns the Benefits? (Hint: It’s Not Just the PMO)
Imagine a football team where nobody volunteers to be goalkeeper. Eleven players run around, but when the opposition shoots… thud, straight into the net. That’s benefits management without clear ownership. Everyone assumes someone else has it covered.
PMI’s research is brutal: 94% of high-maturity organisations always assign clear benefit owners. In low-maturity ones, it’s just 19%. That’s the difference between a clean sheet and a 5–0 drubbing.
Benefits ≠ project deliverables
Here’s the kicker: the PMO can’t own benefits. We track, facilitate, and report. But the business owns delivery of the benefit. If HR implements a new payroll system, HR owns the productivity savings. If Finance automates reporting, Finance owns the reduced effort.
Without clear ownership, benefits evaporate. A 2016 PMI survey of 774 execs found that the most successful organisations didn’t just define benefits; they named a single accountable person for each one.
What good looks like
High-maturity organisations:
- Align 95% of expected benefits with strategic goals.
- Capture lessons learned 95% of the time.
- Are transparent about achievement 97% of the time.
Low-maturity ones? They muddle along, and projects quietly underdeliver.
PMO’s job: play referee
So how do you avoid the open goal scenario? As PMO, you:
- Name the owner in the business case. No name, no approval.
- Get sign-off on benefits profiles. If the owner won’t sign, they won’t deliver.
- Review regularly. Ask the awkward question: “Are we still on track to realise this?”
In practice, this works. One NHS Trust I worked with embedded benefit owners into their governance. Suddenly, Finance had to stand up and explain the savings, HR had to show the engagement gains. Accountability drove delivery.
Closing the loop
If your benefits ownership is fuzzy, you’re playing football without a goalkeeper. Assign the right people, enforce accountability, and watch your portfolio’s scoreline improve.
We break this process down — with real templates and examples — in the Ultimate Guide to Benefits Management.
The C-Suite Blind Spot – Why Executives Miss Benefits (and How to Fix It)
Ever seen a magician “saw someone in half”? The crowd gasps, the assistant smiles — and magically, she’s whole again. The trick works because we only look at the box, not what’s really happening. That’s the C-suite on projects: dazzled by schedules and budgets, blind to benefits.
PMI’s research with The Economist Intelligence Unit found only 61% of high-impact projects deliver their intended strategic benefits. That means almost 4 in 10 “must win” projects fail to actually move the needle.
The illusion of success
Executives love a project that’s “on time and on budget.” But as Mark Langley (ex-PMI CEO) said: projects are supposed to deliver change that advances strategy. Yet only half of organisations bother to follow up after project completion to see if benefits were realised. That’s like applauding the magician but never checking if the assistant is still in one piece.
PMO to the rescue
This is where PMOs earn their keep. We can:
- Reframe reporting: not “% complete” but “% of benefits at risk.”
- Build benefits dashboards: track strategic outcomes alongside cost and risk.
- Highlight “benefits drift”: when promised outcomes quietly slip out of reach.
One case study: a telecoms firm built a flashy new CRM. IT declared success. But the PMO tracked benefits and saw customer churn unchanged. By surfacing this, they pivoted training and processes — then churn dropped. Without benefits tracking, it would have been a wasted investment.
Changing the executive conversation
Executives aren’t anti-benefits. They’re just conditioned to look at outputs. Your job is to connect projects back to strategy in language they get: shareholder value, cost savings, citizen outcomes.
Remember: organisations that manage benefits well waste 67% less money. That’s not a rounding error; it’s the difference between a magic trick and real impact.
Closing the loop
So next time your execs celebrate a project’s “on time, on budget” finish, be the one to ask: “But did it deliver the eggs?” Don’t let benefits disappear in a puff of smoke.
The Ultimate Guide to Benefits Management also covers how to make benefits visible to senior stakeholders.
How Mature is Your Organisation at Benefits Realisation?
Wine lovers know the difference between cheap box wine and a well-aged Bordeaux. Both will do the job, but only one leaves you wanting more. The same goes for benefits maturity.
PMI’s global research shows only 17% of organisations report high maturity in benefits realisation. The rest are drinking plonk. High-maturity organisations align portfolios to strategy, assign owners, and sustain benefits long after project close. Low-maturity one's tick boxes and hope for the best.
The maturity gap in numbers
- 94% of high-maturity orgs formally assign benefit owners, versus 19% of low-maturity ones.
- 95% capture lessons learned, versus 60% at low maturity.
- Very mature organisations are over twice as likely to report strong financial performance.
The maturity dividend is real: waste less, deliver more.
Quick PMO self-check
Ask yourself three questions:
- Do we name benefit owners in every business case?
- Do we measure benefits beyond project close?
- Do we rebalance portfolios based on realised (or missed) benefits?
If you answered “no” more than once, you’re still in box-wine territory.
How to mature without the hangover
Maturity doesn’t mean bureaucracy. It’s about habits:
- Start small: track benefits for one project post-handover, then expand.
- Integrate: make benefits part of portfolio reviews, not a separate ritual.
- Educate: help execs see success as outcomes, not outputs.
Case study: Transport for London matured its benefits processes over time. From tracking savings in one IT project, they built a portfolio-wide dashboard. Now they use benefit forecasts to decide whether to keep funding in-flight projects.
Closing the loop
Benefits maturity is like wine — the older and better it gets, the more value you unlock. But unlike wine, you don’t have to wait decades. Start small, build habits, and you’ll see results within months.
Ready to take your PMO from plonk to Bordeaux? Download our Ultimate Guide to Benefits Management and start maturing your benefits capability today.