Outcome-Based Budgeting; The Right Focus

I recently read that the office of Philadelphia's new mayor, Michael Nutter, is initiating an outcome-based budgeting process. Other cities have had success with this approach as well.

Rather than each department planning their budget in isolation (as many companies do), the budget process will be focused on the outcomes that the money is meant to support, regardless of department.

Not only does an outcome-based focus make sense for budgeting, it makes sense for project measurement, portfolio management, and even Web sites. Much like budgets, all too many web sites are structured around organizational or departmental silos, as opposed to the outcomes that are supposed to be produced.