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Project and programme leadership

Someone accountable for the whole thing, not just their part of it

We take on the programmes that span several teams, several suppliers and a governance structure that has to be satisfied. The work is coordination, sequencing and honest reporting, done by people who have run it before.

Discuss a programme What we take on

The problem

Programmes rarely fail because nobody was managing them

They fail because the person managing them had no authority over the dependencies, or because the plan stopped reflecting reality in month three and nobody wanted to say so. Both are fixable, but only by someone with enough standing to raise it.

01
The dependency nobody owns. Two teams each assume the other is handling it. It surfaces at integration, which is the most expensive point to find it.
02
The plan that stopped being true. Reporting drifts towards activity because activity is easier to report than progress against an outcome.
03
The decision that needs three groups. Nothing is blocked, exactly, but nothing moves either. Someone has to convene it and hold the outcome.

What we take on

The shapes of work we are usually asked for

Engaged as a named individual embedded in your structure, or as a small ChangeFluent led workstream under a statement of work.

Programme and delivery management

Planning, sequencing, dependency management, RAID and the reporting cadence. Progress measured against the outcomes agreed at the start rather than against output volume.

Multi supplier coordination

Where several suppliers each own a piece and nobody owns the seam between them. We hold the integration and keep the commercial conversations separate from the delivery ones.

Assurance and recovery

An independent read on a programme that is drifting. Kept short, focused on what would actually change the trajectory, and written to be acted on rather than filed.

Business case and options work

Options appraisal, cost and benefit shaping, and the evidence a board or a spend control submission needs. Written so the recommendation survives challenge.

Delivery method and cadence

Setting up the ceremonies, the reporting and the governance interface so a team can run without a consultant in the room. Lighter is usually better.

Legacy and decommissioning

Establishing what an old system actually does, agreeing what is genuinely required, and retiring it without stranding a user group nobody had counted.

How an engagement runs

Four phases, each with a decision point at the end

You are not committing to the whole thing on day one, and we would rather you did not.

Frame

A short, bounded piece of work to agree the problem, the constraints and what success should be measured against.

Mobilise

Plan, governance interface, reporting and the team shape. Enough structure to move, not so much that it becomes the work.

Deliver

Named lead, your cadence, progress reported against the measures agreed in phase one. Bad news arrives early rather than late.

Hand over

Documentation, a handover period and a support tail. The aim is your team running it without us.

How we work

We would rather lose the extension than let a programme drift quietly

The most useful thing a delivery lead does is tell you something you did not want to hear, at a point where it is still cheap to act on. That is easier for an external supplier than for someone whose next promotion depends on the programme looking healthy, and we think it is most of what you are paying for.

A status report that has been green for six months is not a good sign. It is a reporting problem.

What we look for first on a recovery

Practitioners, not a benchThe person you assess is the person who turns up.

Method agnosticWe work to whatever your organisation already uses rather than importing a framework.

Governance literateComfortable with phase gates, assurance reviews and board reporting.

Scales both waysA full multi discipline team, or one experienced lead three days a week.

Contract flexibleStatement of work, day rate or fixed price, inside or outside IR35.

Common questions

Before you get in touch

If your question is not here, ask on the call. We would rather rule ourselves out early.

Do you use a particular methodology?

We work to whatever your organisation already runs, whether that is a stage gated model, a Scrum or SAFe setup, or something in between. Our people hold the usual certifications, but importing a framework into an organisation that already has one tends to create more work than it removes.

Can you work alongside our existing PMO?

Yes, and often that is the better arrangement. We can supply delivery capability into your structure and report through your PMO, rather than setting up a parallel one.

What size of programme do you take on?

From a single workstream up to a multi supplier programme. Below a certain size a programme manager is overhead rather than help, and we will say so if that is what we think.

How quickly can you start?

It depends on notice periods, clearance where relevant, and whether you need one person or an assembled team. We would rather give you a date we can hold than an optimistic one.

Inside or outside IR35?

Both, depending on the engagement shape. The determination is yours to make and we will support your process with whatever evidence it requires.

Start here

Bring us the programme nobody wants to own.

Send a role profile, a statement of requirement, or a paragraph on what is stuck. We will come back with a view, a possible shape, and an honest read on fit.

Discuss a programme See our public sector work