Many organizations struggle to focus on achieving the business outcomes intended from their digital initiatives. Stuck with the fallacy of the perfect business case, and the divide between IT and Business, organizations opt to govern digital initiatives using the iron triangle: scope, budget and schedule. Business outcomes are dealt with as an afterthought evaluated after the end of the project or initiative. This is the story of how a major energy utility in Australia adopted a business outcome driven approach to govern their digital initiatives.

In the talk, I discuss the details of the first initiative where this approach has been implemented. I share the beginnings and the different alternatives that were discussed before this approach was adopted. Program and team structure are discussed with a focus on how the team dynamics and roles, like product owner and project manager, changed as a result of the new approach. Contracting and governance both play an important role in setting up the model and hence are discussed with appropriate detail.

Lessons learned and challenges are shared with a focus on what worked, what did not work and how I would do it differently next time.