Project Management Cost Control

"Should we hire or should we cut?" is a question I'm hearing often from small business owners right now, which is fair given the mixed economic signals. Some clients are seeing their best quarters ever. Others are watching pipelines thin out. Everyone seems to be asking, "How do we plan for what we can't predict?" This is where scenario planning becomes your survival tool; not just hoping for the best, but modeling the reality of different futures. Here's what we walk our clients through: 🌳 The Growth Scenario: For example, if revenue is expected to be up, we’re looking at potential team expansion and higher overhead. Looking at what that does for cash flow given the changes to expected expense changes. 🌱 The Steady Scenario: Where flat growth is expected and we plan to maintain current team, we’ll want to optimize margins and prepare for inevitable per team member increases. There will likely be some percentage increase YOY but we expect the core costs to stay the same. 🍃 The Contraction Scenario: On the other hand, if revenue is expected to go down, we want to look at strategic cuts that allow the team to run efficiently while preserving cash. For our clients, this is usually a mix of team, professional services, and travel. We also want to ensure that the resources kept are used efficiently. Each scenario gets its own financial mode where we map out cash flow, runway, and break-even points for 3, 6, and 12 months ahead. The command center for this? Fathom. We've been using Fathom since the beginning of Little Fish Accounting and it lets us build the scenarios in real-time with clients, showing exactly how each decision ripples through their financials. No more spreadsheet gymnastics or gut-feeling guesses. Ultimately, the founders who survive uncertainty aren't the ones with crystal balls—they're the ones with clear models and decisive action plans. And we're glad to be the builders 🧱

Set and forget is not a pricing strategy ! Price--> Design--> Build We know that's what everyone says, but thats an oversimplification of what the entire process should look like. The assumption your pricing was correct in the pre-design phase and doesn't need change is dangerous, dangerous, dangerous !! I have seen too many physical and software products change drastically between initial design to final delivery. Product owners will typically assume that pricing still holds. You have to change that philosophy. In the real world we need a lot more iteration in price: Step 1: Initial Price: This stage you quantify the value and set an initial target price. This is a combination of internal/external research, some value quantification and pricing knowledge. Step 2: Design: With that price info, the product team designs a product that hits product and profitability targets. This is also where you need to keep track of the product margins. Often product will go design a better product at the expense of higher cost, and margins suffer before launch. Step 3: Reprice: Now that we know the new design constraints that impact the profitability, this stage gives you the opportunity to reprice the product based on the design. If substantial value has been added, price should go up. Do not fall into the 'lets over deliver on value and keep price same' trap. Step 4: Build: Now with that new price info and product roadmap the product goes through the build stage. Step 5: Pre launch reprice : Now significant time may have passed since last price review. The market for the product, the economy etc may have changed. This stage can assist in making last changes before product goes out. Good time to also establish guardrails for price performance, discount strategy, or sales strategy. Step 6: Launch: Goes without saying the product is out in the real world. Great way to capture feedback. Also a stage where performance is measured against the price guardrails. Step 7: Reprice 3: Based on sales feedback, you start charting next steps. Selling too slow, you may need discount or reprice. Selling too fast, it may be overdelivering on price vs value. Pricing metric may need change. Fx may have changed. This is the price adjustment stage, should be annual or semi annual. You can incorporate these steps into new product introduction framework or annual or semi annual pricing strategy process, either ways it will help establish good pricing principles in the org. I know of many products that once designed were never repriced years into its life.. Surely things must have changed all those years... Think of Pricing as a lifecycle !! -------------------------- We are in #Pricingtribe.

How prepared is your business for unexpected financial challenges? Imagine: You’re reviewing your company’s credit metrics, and things seem stable until they aren’t. In one scenario, Cash flow dips for the first time in four years. Why? A hefty investment in fixed assets eats into reserves, pushing cash into negative territory. In another scenario, Things get even more precarious. Key financial ratios, like debt service coverage and the current ratio, drop below covenant thresholds, signaling trouble ahead. This isn’t just about numbers on a balance sheet; it’s about the resilience of your business. What happens when your capital asset turnover ratio takes a hit? How do you handle rising debt levels or shrinking cash reserves? These aren’t hypothetical questions; they’re real challenges many companies face when navigating uncertain times. A study by McKinsey found that companies with robust scenario planning frameworks are 30% more likely to navigate economic downturns without breaching debt covenants. The takeaway? Financial foresight isn’t just a nice-to-have it’s essential. Scenario analysis helps you stress-test your financial health against various possibilities, from modest downturns to extreme cases. By exploring these "what-ifs," you gain a clearer picture of your vulnerabilities and can plan accordingly. Maybe it's about holding off on a big investment or renegotiating terms with lenders. The goal isn’t to avoid risk entirely (which is impossible) but to anticipate it and respond proactively. How is your company preparing for its downside scenarios? Let’s discuss how you approach financial resilience in a world full of uncertainties. #Finance #ScenarioAnalysis #BusinessResilience

📦 Jobs-Led Pricing: A 10-step framework for transforming feature-led products into monetization-ready, jobs-based pricing models. Built on 4 stages: 1. Product (Discovery Layer) 2. Value (Logic Layer) 3. Customer (Preference Layer) 4. Pricing (Monetization Layer) 🔹 STAGE 1: PRODUCT [Discovery Layer] 🔹 Step 1: Feature Inventory What it is: ▪️ List every feature, tool, and function in the product
▪️ Include hidden, premium, or internal-use features Why it matters: ▪️ Creates a complete picture of what’s being delivered
▪️ Prevents missing monetizable elements 🔹 Step 2: Feature to Plan Mapping What it is: ▪️ Show how features are bundled into pricing plans today
▪️ Expose arbitrary or legacy packaging logic Why it matters: ▪️ Reveals pricing misalignment with value
▪️ Highlights over- or under-incentivized plans 🔹 Step 3: Feature Usage Mapping What it is: ▪️ Track actual customer usage of each feature
▪️ Look for engagement patterns by segment Why it matters: ▪️ Identifies “dead weight” vs “core value” features
▪️ Helps assess ROI per feature 🧠 STAGE 2: VALUE [Logic Layer] 🔹 Step 4: Feature Valuation What it is: ▪️ Qualitatively or quantitatively assign value to each feature
▪️ Use proxies: time saved, revenue unlocked, cost reduced Why it matters: ▪️ Establishes which features are worth monetizing
▪️ Anchors the price-to-value logic 🔹 Step 5: Jobs Identification What it is: ▪️ Identify core Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) your product enables
▪️ Use user interviews, surveys, task analysis Why it matters: ▪️ Shifts the model from features to outcomes
▪️ Connects monetization to customer success 🔹 Step 6: Feature–Jobs Mapping What it is: ▪️ Map each feature to one or more customer Jobs
▪️ Create a logic layer: feature → outcome → value Why it matters: ▪️ Bridges product design with pricing strategy
▪️ Enables bundling and upsell opportunities around outcomes 🎯 STAGE 3: CUSTOMER [Preference Layer] 🔹 Step 7: Rank Jobs What it is: ▪️ Prioritize Jobs by importance and frequency
▪️ Use customer feedback and behavior data Why it matters: ▪️ Surfaces which outcomes matter most
▪️ Enables tiering or segmentation logic 🔹 Step 8: Value Jobs What it is: ▪️ Quantify perceived value of each Job
▪️ Use surveys, conjoint analysis, BWS, or proxies Why it matters: ▪️ Links value perception to potential willingness to pay
▪️ Avoids feature-based pricing traps 💰 STAGE 4: PRICING [Monetization Layer] 🔹 Step 9: Value Capture [%] Analysis What it is: ▪️ Decide what % of value created you can capture
▪️ Compare to industry benchmarks or strategic posture Why it matters: ▪️ Sets pricing defensibility
▪️ Avoids overcharging or leaving money on the table 🔹 Step 10: Pricing Metric / Model What it is: ▪️ Choose pricing metric: per seat, usage, credits, % of revenue, hybrid
▪️ Align it to how value is delivered + Jobs solved Why it matters: ▪️ Ensures pricing scales with value
▪️ Sets the business up for sustainable revenue growth #Pricing #JLP

Most enterprise transformations aren’t underfunded. They’re over-governed. A FTSE 100 COO told me this: “We’re spending £4M a month. But we’re delivering at 60% of plan.” The work wasn’t broken. The governance was. 15 steering meetings a month. Multiple PMOs. Slide decks masquerading as assurance. It looked controlled. But internal benchmarks showed they were 40% slower than peers. The board was governing transformation like a capital project. That’s the real risk. Smart governance isn’t looser. It’s sharper. ✅ Cadence Swap stage-gates for quarterly value reviews. Track realised outcomes. Not artefacts. ✅ Metrics Focus on leading indicators. Speed to test. Behaviour shifts. Adoption momentum. These translate to revenue signals and risk retirement. They give boards forward visibility. Not lagging confirmation. ✅ Accountability Rotate decision rights. Boards approve investment thresholds and strategic pivots. Operational adaptations move to transformation leads. With transparent logging to preserve traceability. Start by running both models for one quarter. Prove the signal-to-noise ratio improves, before you swap. The goal isn’t agility for its own sake. It’s value. Faster, safer, clearer. If your transformation is stuck in ceremony, governance is your unlock.

Major projects are essential to achieving government’s most ambitious priorities—but too often, these critical initiatives face significant challenges, leading to budget overruns, delays, and lost opportunities. I’m proud to have contributed to an important study led by the Office for Value for Money (OVfM), which has informed major new government recommendations aimed at improving the delivery and management of major projects. Key insights from our work have highlighted that projects frequently begin without accurate early estimates, are hampered by unclear accountability, and struggle with unrealistic budgeting practices and inflexible governance structures. Based on our input, the government has tabled five major changes: (1) Transparent Strategy and Delivery Plans: Ensuring clear, aligned objectives from the outset, communicated via a Command Paper in Parliament. (2) Streamlined Decision-Making and Assurance: Tailoring processes to each project, reducing unnecessary complexity and delays. (3) Realistic Feasibility and Incremental Funding: Acknowledging early-stage uncertainty through incremental funding and ranges of cost and schedule. (4) Flexible Funding for Construction: Providing a fixed capital envelope with flexibility to manage spending across fiscal years, allowing better risk management. (5) Enhanced Specialist Recruitment: Allowing project teams flexibility in hiring skilled experts, supported by a pipeline of talent developed by the National Infrastructure Service Transformation Authority (NISTA). These changes aren’t a complete fix, major projects will always involve significant complexity and risk, but they represent a crucial step forward in overcoming longstanding barriers. Delighted to have contributed to this impactful work, helping ensure mega projects deliver genuine value for the public. #MegaProjects #Infrastructure #ValueForMoney #ProjectManagement #PublicSector https://lnkd.in/eZaP9fQC

🌩️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐦𝐚: 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐎𝐩𝐬, 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 As enterprises expand across multiple cloud providers, the pursuit of agility is challenged by a new governance trilemma: maintaining financial efficiency, mitigating risk, and ensuring compliance at the same time. Here is how leaders can restore balance 👇 💰 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐎𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐫 FinOps must evolve from cost optimization to value realization, weighting every spending decision against compliance exposure and operational resilience. ⚖️ 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤-𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐎𝐩𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 By integrating FinOps with enterprise risk management, organizations can move from cheapest-cost decisions to safest-value investments, combining financial control with resilience intelligence. 📜 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 Embedding FinOps clauses in cloud contracts such as cost transparency, periodic reviews, compliance reporting, and SLA escalation paths transforms governance into a legally enforceable practice. 🔗 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 CFOs, CIOs, CISOs, and CROs must operate on a shared governance continuum, where every euro spent is evaluated through financial, risk, and compliance lenses. FinOps is no longer only about efficiency; it is becoming the financial control layer of digital governance. #FinOps #CloudGovernance #RiskManagement #Compliance #CloudStrategy #DigitalTransformation #MultiCloud

The governance framework passed review.   The programme still ran without it. Programme governance in financial services rarely fails at design. It fails at enforcement. We spend weeks producing frameworks. Approval boards review. Steering committees sign off. Then delivery begins. And the framework becomes a document people reference — not a control they apply. The structural problem isn't poor design. It's that approval and enforcement get treated as the same event. They aren't. Approval means the document exists. Enforcement means someone has the authority to stop work when it's ignored. In most programme recoveries I've reviewed, that enforcement mechanism was never built. → AI tools go live without review gates. → Vendors onboard without sign-off. → Risks get logged. Nobody escalates. The light is red. Nobody stops. This is where delivery assurance breaks down in transformation programmes. Not because the governance framework was weak — but because it had no teeth. Well-run organisations design enforcement into the framework from inception: Who stops the work? What triggers the escalation? Who holds that authority? Governance without an enforcement path is a reference document. Not a control mechanism. If programme governance in your organisation resembles the top half of this image, the audit trail looks clean. The programme risk isn't visible until it's too late. 🔔 Follow Justin R. for more on programme governance and delivery ♻️ Save and share this with a Head of Transformation navigating a governance reset 🚀 Subscribe to The Transformation Constant — my newsletter

Day 12/30 of the #30daysofPPMWithYonas Project's Wallet - Cost Management 💰 Money talks. Cost Management isn't just tracking expenses; it's a proactive process of planning, estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs to complete your project within the approved budget. It transforms your project scope into a financial roadmap. Cost Management breakdown: 🔹 Plan Cost Management: Establish the policies and documentation for managing costs. 🔹 Estimate Costs: Develop approximations for the resources needed—considering materials, labor, equipment, and contingencies. 🔹 Determine Budget: Aggregate the estimated costs into a formal budget, establishing your Cost Baseline. 🔹 Control Costs: Monitor spending, manage changes, and update the budget to stay on track. It’s not just about the total number. It’s about understanding where the money is going (your cost baseline) and ensuring every dollar delivers value. Introducing Earned Value Management (EVM): EVM is a powerhouse technique that integrates scope, schedule, and cost to answer critical questions: 1. Are we on budget? (Cost Performance Index - CPI) 2. Are we on schedule? (Schedule Performance Index - SPI) 3. What’s the forecasted cost at completion? (Estimate at Completion - EAC) While it may seem complex, EVM provides an objective and early warning system for project health. Mastering Cost Management means you’re not just watching the numbers, you’re steering the financial future of your project. How do you keep your project’s finances in check? Share your tips below! Have a great day!