The four situations I'm built for.

Something doesn't sit right before you sign

You are about to commit a sizeable budget and something in the plan feels off. Before the RFP goes out or the contract with the supplier is signed, I review the strategy, scope, and assumptions and tell you whether the plan, as written, is likely to land. This applies equally to a technology deployment, a regulatory licence application, a market entry plan, or a distribution arrangement — any commitment where the assumptions are baked in and the cost of being wrong is high.

• Typical scope: review of existing strategy decks, business case, and draft brief; 3–5 stakeholder conversations; written assessment and recommendations.
• Typical duration: 2–4 weeks.
• Output: a short, concrete note — what is sound, what is missing, and what I would change before you commit.

It's moving, but not in the right direction

Budget is committed, contractors are on board, and you are not seeing the progress or outcomes you expected. Scope has drifted, the contract with the supplier is already signed, or business and IT are explaining the gap to each other rather than closing it.

I come in as an independent owner of the reset: where things went wrong, where communication between business and delivery is misaligned, and what has to change now to avoid burning the next six months.

• Typical scope: on-site or remote diagnostic; reconstructed timeline of decisions; working sessions with the sponsor, the CIO, and the supplier; concrete reset plan.
• Typical duration: 4–12 weeks, often followed by a lighter oversight phase.
• Output: a decision-grade view of what is recoverable, what is sunk, and a path to get the project back to delivering.

One phase that has to be done properly

Sometimes you do not need another consultant in the steering committee; you need one critical phase owned end-to-end. I take the pen on that phase and make sure what leaves it is fit for purpose.

Common examples: a diagnostic of an existing project, choosing or re-selecting a contractor, a regulatory feasibility review, a market entry assessment for a European company coming into the Philippines; or a go / no-go before committing to a pilot, a market, or a partnership.

• Typical duration: 3–8 weeks per phase.
• Output: the artefact that matters for that phase — decision memo, supplier recommendation, feasibility note — plus the conversations that make it stick.

Everyone's working — but not from the same reality

When the business sponsor and the delivery team are talking past each other, progress stalls regardless of how much effort is going in. I sit between them as a translator: making sure decisions are made at the right level, trade-offs are explicit, and what gets built — or bought, or launched — is what was actually needed.

• Typical scope: embedded in the project leadership; attends key ceremonies; consolidates decisions and risks; keeps the plan and reality aligned.
• Typical duration: 3–12 months, often part-time.
• Output: fewer surprises, cleaner decisions, and less rework.

The sequence I keep returning to

Regardless of where the engagement starts, the work tends to follow the same shape.

• Re-anchor on intent. What is this project actually for, and what business consequence justifies doing it now?
• Rebuild the decision trail. Which assumptions, shortcuts, and political compromises got us here?
• Expose the real constraints. Regulatory, technical, commercial, organisational — preferably before they show up as delay.
• Move phase by phase. Clear scope, named owner, explicit output, and a decision at the end of each phase.