"business value must be discovered"

"More to the point, it seems backwards: we should be valuing the investment based on its contribution to strategy, not just on an income projection.
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The idea that there is a single metric that represents or can serve as a proxy for business value is also misguided; in order to have a complete picture of business value, we must consider the goals of the particular organization, the interests of at least some of its stakeholders, and a variety of indicators of value, some of which may be quantifiable and some of which may not.
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If I am right about this, then business value is not a given, but rather something specific to the organization that must be discovered. This idea might sound familiar: it is in fact the very idea of agility. Agile software development starts from the assumption that it is impossible for the business to know exactly what its requirements are in advance of a software development project. Requirements must emerge; they must be discovered; an Agile process learns and adapts. I am simply saying that business value is also not a simple given at the outset of our adoption of Agile practices. Instead, business value must be discovered, must be learned, must be turned into a testable basis for valuing requirements."

Trechos retirados de "The Art of Business Value", de Mark Schwartz.