The Line - What Most Technology Programs Get Wrong

There’s a line that separates two ways of thinking about technology programs. Most organisations manage on the wrong side of it.

Above the line

Above the line is where business outcomes live.

Above the line questions:

• Why are we doing this?
• What business outcome changes if we succeed?
• What’s the expected return on this investment?
• How does this connect to strategic priorities?

Below the line questions:

• Are we on schedule?
• Is scope being tracked?
• Are the reports being produced?
• Is the team at capacity?

Both sets of questions matter. The problem isn’t asking below-the-line questions. It’s asking only those.

Below the line

This is where most consultants live. It’s the world of delivery management: are we on schedule? Are we within budget? Did we follow the process? Is the team being productive? This work matters, but on its own it’s execution without direction. Manage a program solely from below the line and the technical milestones get hit while the business value gets missed.

You can’t get above-the-line results from below-the-line work

A program can be green across every RAG status. Every sprint delivered on time. Every deliverable signed off. And it can still generate zero measurable business value.

Signs you’re managing below the line:

• Success is measured by RAID log hygiene, sprint completion, or on-time delivery
• Leadership asks “are we on track?” and the answer is velocity charts
• The business metric this program should change is anyone’s guess

Signs you’re above the line:

• Every steering committee starts with “what did we get for what we spent?”
• Scope decisions are weighed against a business outcome as well as the budget
• The program has a defined investment thesis: a measurable return it’s expected to generate

Softwired leads from above the line.

I make digital and technology transformation happen below the line — the delivery, the execution, the technical work. That work is real, it matters, and I’m hands on with it. But I lead from above it.

Every piece of delivery stays anchored to a business outcome you can measure. Four habits keep it there.

1. Investment thesis before scope.
Before I write a single line of scope, I define the return this program needs to generate. That return has to be specific and measurable. If I can’t define it, the scope doesn’t get written.

2. Above-the-line metrics before below-the-line tracking.
First, which business outcomes am I chasing? Only then, which delivery milestones am I hitting? Milestones show progress toward the outcome. The outcome itself is the proof.

3. Steering committees that make decisions.
A steering committee’s job is to make business decisions. Put Jira ticket tables in front of an executive meeting and you’re managing below the line.

4. Every deliverable anchored to an outcome.
Each one ties to something that moves a number your organisation cares about.

The practical test

Ask this about your current program:

What business metric will measurably change because of this program, and how will we know if it worked?

If you can answer that plainly, you’re above the line.

If the answer is “we’ll have delivered the platform” or “we’ll have completed the implementation”, you’re below it.

That’s the work I do at Softwired: delivery that moves the number that matters.