Programmes begin with an account of the value they are expected to create. That account may be expressed through benefits, outcomes, service improvements or a broader public purpose. It provides the reason for investing resources and asking people to change.
As delivery progresses, the surrounding organisation also changes. Priorities compete, capacity tightens and decisions that appear sensible in isolation alter the conditions through which value was expected to emerge. People respond to those conditions, often rationally, and the original pathway begins to shift.
Some expected benefits may still be realised. This matters, but it does not settle the wider question of value. The benefit may reach a different group, arrive too late to support the original purpose or create consequences elsewhere that change what the organisation has achieved overall.
Asking where the value went creates a different conversation. It invites us to trace what was intended, what became possible, who experienced the result and which organisational conditions influenced the movement between them.
BTVR offers a developing explanation for part of this movement. It remains open to challenge, boundary conditions and alternative explanations where the relationship between conditions, behaviour and value does not account for what happened.