Quick Thoughts on Business Cases
Earlier today, Stewart Rogers asked on Twitter, “Why do a business case?”
My immediate answer was that a business case helps to answer the question, “why are we doing this?” and to define value.
But maybe “define” isn’t the right word.
A better answer is that a business case helps to communicate value, be it to stakeholders, leadership, finance or the rest of the product team.
One thing I’ve seen is that there are many different types and styles of business cases, so I think people often get too hung up on what a business case should look like, as opposed to what it accomplishes. I’ve seen business cases that were documented in a massive excel spreadsheet. I’ve seen 40 page word documents and 250 word emails that all accomplished the same goals:
- Help to communicate the anticipated financial or business value of a proposed project
- Provide a framework for documenting and testing the assumptions behind a business decision
- Lay out a success measures that can be used to evaluate the final value of the proposed project
The business case itself does not define these things. It’s just an artifact. Rather the exercise of building a proper business case forces the product manager (and business) to get past the hype and excitement of having a “great idea” and focus in on explaining and proving what makes the idea so great.
A formal business case is not the only artifact ever devised that can accomplish these goals, however I would argue that any document that accomplishes these goals, and is the result of a methodical evaluation of a proposal’s potential strategic and financial value constitutes a business case.
The process of building a business case forces the Product Manager to define and focus on priorities. The business case document provides a framework for gaining that focus, managing and communicating it to others over time.
What do you think?
