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Our aim in this handbook is to set forward the basic diagnostic toolbox that will help executives understand the strategic health of their project portfolio and to know whether they are on track to realise the benefits that they were originally set out to achieve. We are offering the equivalent of a doctor’s stethoscope and a diagnostic map: six places to check to determine the health of your project. As in any medical check‐up, the general condition will depend on how several forces interact with each other in a systemic way. If a doctor requests a blood test for example, what we will get is a few measurements with values within certain ranges that are deemed as normal for any given parameter. If the blood counts are all within the expected ranges, no action is to be taken. If, however, a certain value is found to be outside the ‘normal’ range, then action needs to be taken to explore the nature of the ‘disease’.

Our method establishes dialogue and questioning as the main mode of engagement to achieve alignment between projects, strategy, and policy and, thus, undertake a project health check. The diagnostics will allow us to probe into different aspects of the project in order to guide reflection on the different options for the project business case and if and how it is going to fulfil its objectives. These questions are the backbone of our thinking in this book and they are the equivalent of the diagnostic map shown in Figure 1.1. Armed with the knowledge of where to look and listen, you are the stethoscope to bring your projects into strategic conversations.

We next introduce a toolbox grouped by six questions that you can use to make sense of any given number of projects in their organisation and then govern at the right time. These six questions were derived by rigorously looking at both successful and unsuccessful projects and asking what could have been done to improve the business outcome. The 6Q Governance business canvas is given below and each of its areas will be elaborated in more detail in Chapter 2 of this book.

Figure 1.1 6Q Governance (TM) as a business canvas.

The rest of the handbook is organised in the following way:

 Key concepts

 Chapter 2: The 6Q Governance questions

 Chapter 3: Tools and techniques

 Chapter 4: Further insights

 Appendices: Detailed case studies – for practice