What the work actually looks like.

the problem

Three consecutive release dates missed. The founders were being asked by their board for a delivery forecast they could not produce, and engineering felt every date was arbitrary.

what we did

• Ran a two-week audit of the path from idea to production
• Found work entering sprints without acceptance criteria, so "done" was contested
• Introduced estimation and a single definition of done
• Replaced verbal status with a one-page weekly delivery report

what changed

By week six the team was hitting sprint commitments consistently, and the founders had a forecast they could take to the board.

Product & Delivery Partner, 4 months

the problem

Two large accounts were consistently over-running. Rework was eating margin, and the client relationship on the larger account had become adversarial.

what we did

• Traced over-runs to requirements sign-off, not engineering throughput
• Introduced BRD/PRD standards with explicit client sign-off gates
• Set up change control so scope additions became visible and priced
• Instituted fortnightly client-facing delivery reporting

what changed

Rework dropped materially within a quarter, and change requests became billable rather than absorbed. The larger account renewed.

Execution Stabiliser, 6 months

the problem

Cloud spend was rising faster than revenue, and the founding team could not tell whether the architecture would survive their next growth phase.

what we did

• Reviewed architecture against the next 12 months of projected load
• Audited infrastructure spend line by line against real usage
• Identified over-provisioning and one structurally expensive design choice
• Produced a sequenced remediation plan ranked by business impact

what changed

Monthly infrastructure spend fell significantly, extending runway, and the team had a costed plan for the scaling work ahead.

Fractional Tech Leadership, 3 months