Project Prioritisation 101
Margaret Kalaugher
A nice challenge facing many towns is the vast number of proposals for different interventions to solve problems, shape and change a town for the better. These proposals will have formed in lots of different ways: some will have come out of political discussion; some will have emerged from a technical need; and some from the local community. What’s very clear is that it’s not possible to do them all; the reality of funding and resource limitations, feasibility and politics will all play a part in limiting options. So how do we know which ones we should do first, or at all?
Most towns will naturally do some kind of prioritisation process already, whether through discussion in a board meeting, or an initial filtering by officers. But how do we know if decisions have been made in a robust, consistent way as opposed to it being somebody’s pet project or who spoke loudest? How do we know if we’ve looked at the projects from relevant perspectives and ensured that they’re the right ones to be doing right now? How do we know if the projects represent relative value for money? How do we know if the projects selected will stand up to scrutiny when things go wrong or change down the line? How do we help politicians make decisions and community, business and funders understand that decisions have been made in a transparent way?
That’s where asking a clear set of questions of each project and using a prioritisation tool can really help with decision making, and MHCLG is keen to see evidence of a project prioritisation process in the Town Investment Plan. Ultimately, the decision on which projects are put forward will be a political one, but used in the right way, a set of questions and a tool can help ensure that projects have been selected following a rigorous process. The process should not backsolve the preferred project to fit the prioritisation process and should involve key stakeholders.
Below is an overview of a project prioritisation process that could be used, from setting a clear vision and objectives through to a final prioritised list:
Once vision and objectives have been established and potential projects identified, it’s useful to do a first sift to see if individual projects meet key Towns Fund criteria. If they don’t, but there is still merit, then are they suitable for other funding streams?
After this initial sift and the creation of a long list, projects should be assessed against the town objectives which should be based on the vision and local policies, including COVID-19 recovery and Clean Growth. During this second sift, a look at the Theory of Change for each project will be helpful to see if there is a clear chain of logic between inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts. The Theory of Change model recommended by MHCLG can be found in the Magenta Book (page 24).
Finally, a third sift will help look at the programme of chosen projects as a whole and ask whether together they form a transformational programme and their sum is greater than their parts. It’s also important to think at this stage about how outcomes could be measured and evaluated.
In other blogs we’ll be presenting a prioritisation tool that will help you with short listing, and we’ll also take a look at the politics of prioritising projects.