Niels Groen

Overcoming the Policy Implementation Gap

What do the energy transition, the digital transformation of the Dutch National Police, and the digitalization of the Dutch National Archive have in common? These are all large-scale initiatives with high impact, crucial for the future and the greater good. Yet, despite their importance, they all ended up far from meeting their forecasted budgets, timelines, and expected outcomes. These failures are not simply poor planning; they reflect a much deeper issue: the inability of governmental organizations to effectively execute their own policies, regardless of how well-intentioned or carefully crafted those policies are.

Organizing around Value Streams in Product and Service Development

One of the key challenges for optimal competitive performance of organizations in the digital age is ensuring high speed of value delivery in product and service development. Faster delivery in development processes not only enables earlier return on investments, but also allows faster validation of the real value of product and service innovation so that investments in unsuccessful initiatives can be minimized. Organizing around value streams is a key step to optimal value delivery in the shortest sustainable lead time. The logic of organizing around value streams, guidelines for designing value streams, and a five-step implementation approach are outlined below.