D4 in practice
D4 has been applied across business, government, healthcare, utilities, finance, technology, public services and higher education.
Its history begins with work on business processes at Standard Life in 1986, where Alan first observed the difficulties people had in understanding and managing concurrent events in business. That work became part of the genesis of D4.
Since then, D4 has been used to help organisations define future states, accelerate change, create consensus, estimate value, re-focus programmes and connect activity to real outcomes.
A history of practical application
D4 is not simply a theory or a presentation method.
It has been applied in real organisations facing real complexity: public-sector reform, IT programmes, healthcare change, business transformation, cultural change, project acceleration, benefits realisation and future-state design.
The examples below show the range of situations in which D4 has been used.
Featured use cases
Edinburgh Futures Institute
2020–2024
The Edinburgh Futures Institute of the University of Edinburgh applied D4 to help define its future state and explore the value and costs of achievements.
This use case reflects D4’s continuing relevance to futures thinking, higher education, interdisciplinary work and the practical design of future states.
Northern Ireland Water
2008–2010
D4 techniques were used to support Northern Ireland Water in carrying out its Strategic Business Plan to transform from a public utility into a Government Company.
By the second quarter of year two, the programme had delivered £119m of value, compared with £109m expected.
This use case shows D4 being applied to a major public-sector transformation, where future-state definition, value and delivery all had to be connected.
British Telecommunications Health
2005–2006
D4 was used to construct a £120m six-year value case for the UK National Health Service Operations Centre for British Telecommunications Health.
By the third quarter of year two, the programme had delivered a new internal business and £136m of gross value, compared with the £80m over six years estimated before the application of D4.
This use case shows how D4 can connect qualitative outcomes, service transformation and cash value.
Buckinghamshire Hospital Trust
2006–2007
PwC was invited by Buckinghamshire Hospital Trust to apply parts of D4 to resolve conflict between the objectives of the Board and those of clinicians.
Within two months, clinicians reported that they felt listened to and moved from resisting certain operational changes to leading them.
This use case shows D4 being used not just for planning, but for creating shared understanding and changing behaviour.
Martin Currie Investment Management
2000–2003
The complete D4 approach was used to rationalise Martin Currie Investment Management’s portfolio of IT projects to match future business expectations.
The number of projects was reduced from 60 to 23, and the proportion of projects delivered on time increased from 17% to 80%.
This use case shows D4 being applied to portfolio rationalisation, IT delivery and alignment with future business needs.
Ernst & Young UK
1998–1999
D4 techniques were applied during the reorganisation of Ernst & Young UK LLP from a skills-structured to a market-structured firm.
The change affected 35 offices and 7,000 personnel, and the transformation was carried out in five months.
This use case shows D4 being used in large-scale organisational transformation.
Mercantile and General
1996
Alan directed a joint UK-Canadian team in Toronto to assess the potential feasibility and fit of a UK business onto Canadian IT systems.
The work was carried out in 14 days with 18 people, using D4 techniques for compression and acceleration.
This use case shows D4’s ability to compress complex analytical work into a short, focused timescale.
General Accident
1995
Alan organised and directed a business-critical evaluation of the IT asset within a German insurance company, in the context of a due-diligence exercise for a potential acquisition by General Accident.
The work was carried out within six days by a team of 12, working concurrently in Germany, the UK and Switzerland.
This use case shows D4’s relevance to high-pressure, cross-border, time-critical assessment.
Strathkelvin Council
1993
D4 acceleration techniques were applied to help Strathkelvin Council’s IT team meet “impossible” deadline requirements from the Ombudsman for an automated Housing Allocation scheme.
This use case shows D4 being used to help a public-sector team respond to urgent delivery pressure.
North-West Water
1991–1994
As part of an Ernst & Young quality assurance team, Alan applied the D4 approach to the assessment of a £500m programme for North-West Water.
This led to a radical re-appraisal, re-direction and acceleration of the programme.
This use case shows D4 being used to challenge, redirect and accelerate a major programme.
Earlier origins
Standard Life Assurance Company
1986–1987
In 1986, Alan worked on a large study of business processes within Standard Life Assurance Company as the organisation responded to the Financial Services Act 1986.
This work involved analysing and modelling the work of over 400 staff, and became the setting in which the issues of concurrency, business processes and parallel events first became central to Alan’s thinking.
In 1987, Alan directed a team introducing project management and control standards into Standard Life, using D4 techniques to manage the work concurrently and cut the timescale to three months.
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
1987–1988
D4 techniques were used to build a pilot replacement administrative system for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, working with the Turing Institute to enable real-time updates.
Land Rover
1988–1989
Alan brokered a joint venture with Bolt Beranek and Newman and carried out a pilot application of D4 techniques and Artificial Intelligence with Land Rover, applied to vehicle assembly lines.
Other applications
D4, or D4-derived approaches, have also been applied in or with:
- Scottish Government
- Solihull Council and Primary Care Trust
- National Australia Bank
- UK Learning and Skills Council
- BECTA
- Northern Ireland Education
- Acergy Group
- UK Department of Health
- Rolls-Royce
- HMRC
- United Utilities
- Scottish Hydro-Electric
- West Mercia Police and Warwickshire Collaboration Programme
- Balfour Beatty
- Glasgow City Council
- Argyll & Bute, Moray, and Dumfries & Galloway Councils
- VocaLink
- UK national Police programme
- UK SME companies through Castle Strategy Ltd
What these use cases show
Across these examples, D4 has been used to:
- define desired future states
- create consensus around outcomes
- connect intended outcomes to cash value
- accelerate programmes and projects
- re-focus portfolios of work
- resolve conflict between groups
- respond to time pressure
- manage concurrent work
- support cultural and organisational change
- make value more visible and auditable
The common thread is not a sector or a type of organisation.
The common thread is the need to make change happen.
Learn more about D4
D4 works from the future backwards.
It begins by defining what would show that the intended future had arrived, then uses that future as the reference point for decisions, delivery, value and adaptation.