APM ShortGuides How to Align Projects So They Realise Benefits

This guide is designed for project professionals at the start of their career, sponsors and PMO practitioners who want to ensure that projects deliver lasting value, not just completed outputs. It explains how benefits management helps connect project delivery to strategic outcomes, why benefits are often lost after handover and what project teams can do to improve the likelihood of realising them. It covers:

·         What benefits management is, how it differs from project delivery and why it plays a critical role in achieving successful outcomes

·         How to identify, define and measure benefits, and link them directly to project outputs and organisational objectives

·         The common reasons benefits fail to materialise, including weak ownership, lack of stakeholder engagement and poor transition planning

·         Practical tools, techniques and approaches for embedding benefits realisation throughout the project life cycle

Drawing on lessons from projects across the public and private sectors, this guide provides a practical introduction to benefits management and benefits realisation. It explores how project professionals can work with sponsors, stakeholders and operational teams to create clear pathways from project outputs to measurable outcomes. Through practical advice and real-world examples, the guide helps readers identify benefits, assign ownership, measure value and plan for successful benefits realisation long after project delivery is complete

Author bio:

Hugo Minney:

Dr Hugo Minney FAPM ChPP CMgr FRSA is an independent project management consultant specialising in benefits management, particularly in putting a value on difficult benefits such as social value, sustainability and regeneration. He chairs the British Standards Institution working group responsible for BS 202002, the standard on applying benefits management to portfolios, programmes and projects. A former executive board director in the NHS, Hugo has built business cases of every kind. He has led APM’s Benefits and Value Interest Network for seven years, leads its Sustainability Interest Network, and founded its Nuclear Industries and AI and Data Analytics networks. He is the author of two APM books, including one on social return on investment, and has written more than 25 articles on benefits management and sustainability for PM World Journal. He is an accredited Social Value Practitioner.

Jason Stevens:

Jason Stevens CMgr MCMI is a seasoned portfolio and benefits manager with more than two decades of experience leading strategic change and operational excellence across public and private sectors. Currently at the Met Office, Jason drives benefits management maturity, leads national working groups and is a published contributor to the Association for Project Management. His career includes leadership roles at Viridor and Callcredit, where he has delivered measurable improvements in value, reporting and team performance. Jason holds a BSc (Econ) in Government and Foreign Policy and is a Chartered Manager (CMI). He’s passionate about embedding best practices, fostering collaboration and enabling organisations to realise their full potential.

Available to buy in A5 and free download for APM members