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Welcome back to ValueKey Labs, the newsletter that's growing quicker than that unchecked risk in your risk register. In this months newsletter we cover:

• A Question of Value - how should project success be measured?

A question of Value

What do the Project Management Institute (PMI) and a duct-taped banana have common?

They both are challenging the concept of "value".

In November 2024 a piece of conceptual art called "Comedian" consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall sold at auction for NZ$10.5 million. Or, more accurately, the buyer purchased a certificate of authenticity that gives them the right to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it "Comedian".

$10.5m for a certificate of authenticity....

I'm no art curator but it begs the question of value?

So what's that got to do with The Project Management Institute?

In a recent presentation by Pierre Le Manh - PMI President, he opened his speech with :

"We would like to initiate a movement, to reframe what our profession brings to the world and feel accountable for, which implies broadening our perspective and accountability beyond Project Management Success to simply Project Success." …."And to really focus on what will drive project success, we also need to truly prioritise the perception of value by stakeholders"

You can watch the short vid here...

I for one applaud Pierre's boldness to shake things up and challenge the way we look at project success beyond outdated parameters of simply scope, cost and schedule.

Here's the thing though..."Value" is highly subjective.

One person's piece of perishable fruit fixed to a wall, is another person's disruptive statement to the art world worth $10.5m.

Value used to be defined by the amount of labour or cost of resources that went into making a product. But "value" has evolved to be far more subjective than that.

Carl Menger who developed "The subjective theory of value" in the late 19th century concluded that "value is variable according to its context and the perspective of its users"

So Value is contextual then?

The value of a warm winter coat in a freezing winter could be more than diamonds to the person wearing it at the time. But the same winter jacket in the summer heat on the beach would be much less, - context.

What about perspective of the user / stakeholders then?

Perhaps if you are a leading figure in the art world, the value you place on having bragging rights at dinner parties to duct-tape a banana to the wall, absolutely warrants the hefty price tag.

Rounding out, just because "value" is difficult to measure, shouldn't mean that as a project profession we shouldn't strive to apply it as the yardstick by which project success is measured.

Guy Thorpe - aka The Project Guy

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