"Are you drowning in the
turbulent sea of IT Project Delivery?"


“Navigating You and Your IT Project
To Calmer Waters.”




"Barry clearly has a mass of experience and knowledge in delivering critical IT projects.

He establishes himself very quickly and quietly whilst building a good repor with all of the members of the project.
The value he added to our project was priceless and ensured a successful delivery.

The most pleasing part is his skill in transferring his knowledge and the subtle way he educates others and steers them down the right path.”

Chris Youles
Programme Manager

We are most likely to form a successful partnership together if we share the same beliefs, values and philosophies.

My best results have been achieved with clients who are open, sincere, trusting and forthright. You will have a genuine desire to provide an outstanding service by performing at the highest possible level and to employ a 'best-practice' approach.

You'll be committed to improving the standards you work to. You embrace change (when and where appropriate) and relish the many challenges of delivering an IT project. You're realistic in your approach and happy to debate a topic, consider opposing views and face critical issues head on. You'll listen to advice - even if it is not necessarily what you want to hear!

You are comfortable with working in or determined to introduce a genuine team-based working environment. This is not the half-baked token-gesture approach attempted by some in an attempt to either pay lip service to somebody's pet 'buzzword' or a hot-topic discovered in a book and suddenly flavour of the month.

I am fortunate to work with a wide variety of companies throughout the UK. Their sizes vary considerably. Some are large corporations, leading organisations known throughout the world, household names with big reputations to maintain. Others are smaller, in the SME sector, with an assortment of backgrounds, but to whom, nonetheless, success is just as vital.

Their industries include telecommunications, finance, software development, recruitment and the building trade. They all have one thing in common though – the need for vital IT projects to be delivered successfully.

Companies face many similar problems irrespective of their size.

Obviously there are some problems that will be determined by a company's size but many are not.

These problems will not come as any great surprise to you. You will have no doubt encountered many of them along the way. You maybe surprised at the number of problems that personally affect you – well don't be! Feel secure in the knowledge that many other IT projects suffer exactly the same hazards and drawbacks as you.

A poor level of communication between the various elements making up your project team is often a major factor in causing problems - more often than not THE root cause!

You find yourself constantly applying short-term fixes. You never get time to provide a suitable permanent solution, always a tactical workaround and not long-term forward thinking strategic solutions. In effect always using sticky tape to provide a temporary 'patch up' job for somebody else to clear up later on.

You find yourself repeatedly fire-fighting issues that should never have happened in the first place.

Key personnel involved have had little or no training related to their role. They've probably been promoted overnight into the position of project manager because of a lack of resource.

Individuals probably have more than one project to run with and are unable to prioritise their work. The work just keeps on appearing; your plate gets fuller and fuller!

Becoming dependent on other projects suddenly looming on the horizon. They appear on your radar and cause conflicts.

You may well experience the oil tanker – "large turning arc" syndrome when trying to change direction. Trying to cut through red tape, bureaucracy hindering your attempts to solve the problem from a fresh perspective or different angle.

Internal friction and rivalry between departments dramatically slowing down your project's progress.

Some members of your project team are not co-operating, either ignoring their responsibilities or for some reason pushing in the opposite direction. You may even be struggling with your stakeholders.

You may be struggling due to the lack of structure with the organisation, control and governance of the project.

You never seem to get the chance to consolidate your position. To take a step back and review where you are. Consequently, things are getting missed and not followed up.

The project appears to lack a sense of direction. Everyone seems focused on the day-to-day grind associated with running the project and paying no attention to the long-term view.

There doesn't seem to be a formal project methodology being followed or standards to follow and adhere to.

Click here now to learn more about how I work, my beliefs, values and philosophy. Get a good idea of the results I can produce for you and your company and how we can be successful working together.

The many challenges you face during a project's lifecycle can be extremely varied and interesting.

Your biggest challenge of all has to be meeting all three of the criteria – budget, time and "quality", namely suitability and whether fit for purpose.

Resisting scope creep wherever possible without appearing unaccommodating. Many a project has fallen foul due to being over accommodating, a change too far!

A slightly different challenge is to resist the "moving goal posts" syndrome. Not an easy thing to do. This doesn't necessarily mean scope creep either. IT can be simply a different way of doing something that brings about a different technological approach that suddenly introduces a fault.

Ensuring you have appropriate resource, this means having the right people in the right place at the right time - not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

Keeping re-work to an absolute minimum. Otherwise a previously well-maintained budget can quickly become shredded and end up in tatters.
Carrying out the appropriate level of planning. Too much detail means not enough of the doing, but not enough planning leaves too many pitfalls and potential showstoppers with no action plan.

A constant challenge is identifying all of your risks and associated mitigation. Also being aware of your dependencies and having a formal agreement in place with your opposite number on the other project. Documenting your assumptions as well. How many projects have faltered or even failed because people have made innocent assumptions and not made the necessary enquiries to confirm their understanding.

Another massive challenge has to be tackling and resolving issues. Despite your best efforts and expert planning you will still have to tackle issues appearing, out of the blue, on the horizon with absolutely no word of warning!
Ensuring the requirements are clearly identified, to allow for adequate testing and proving the solution you're delivering. This in turn goes a long way to getting the solution accepted and signed off.

Managing relationships to get the best out of the various parties working together and ensuring collectively a high standard of output. The many hats of a project manager also include the blue beret of a representative from the United Nations peacekeeping force!

Generating a genuine teamwork approach with a common aim, pulling in the same direction and supportive to everyone's needs and requirements.
Providing a robust structure and organisation with clear roles and responsibilities. Define who is doing what.

Clear and frequent reporting to stakeholders, to get their buy-in, confidence and backing throughout the project's lifecycle.

My list of clients makes for an interesting and varied read.

Despite the different environments, platforms etc. by and large, they share the same challenges, demands and issues.

Each project I have worked on and been responsible for has been delivered successfully by applying the same techniques and approach.

On the surface of it you would think (understandably) they would be faced with entirely different issues but when you strip off the exterior layers it generally comes down to the same things every time.

Since 1998 I have worked closely with companies like DSB Systems British Telecomm, BT Cellnet, Sun Microsystems, Jadepark Management, Lloyds TSB, Cee Jay Plant Hire, Intelligent Finance, Halifax Bank of Scotland, Abbey, WM Holroyd & Sons.

I am extremely proud of my client list and the results I have achieved. It covers the full spectrum of company sizes demonstrating the strength and depth of the value and benefit I offer a client no matter who they are. Whilst there are differences in the make up of an IT project the same basic principles always apply when delivering it.

I offer an initial free consultation. We get to know each other better, explore the possibilities of working together and then decide whether it is worthwhile moving on to the next stage. This can be done over the phone or maybe a formal or informal meeting – the choice is yours.

There are many advantages and benefits to us working together.

You will be able to tap into my wealth of knowledge gleaned from over 30 years worth of experience and three successful careers.

You will benefit from my genuine desire to make you successful. Together we will employ tried and tested techniques that will help you develop a better approach, not just for the short-term to get you over the hump either, it will be a long-term futuristic strategy.

Your newly adopted 'Best Practise' approach will naturally stimulate greater savings, enhanced profits, a higher success rate, increased performance and a greater level of professionalism.

With the improved techniques comes a better performance, a more successful delivery track record. Your individual and team morale will be elevated to previously unknown heights and you will see a more efficient and affective unit in operation.

You will be capable of taking on any challenge head on and be confident in the knowledge you can handle it. You will have the tools and the confidence to take on the toughest of problems.

Click here now to learn more about how I work, my beliefs, values and philosophy. Get a good idea of the results I can produce for you and your company and how we can be successful working together.

The clients I work with all have one key attribute.

They have had the ability to view things from different perspectives. They haven't suffered with blinkered vision and are receptive to alternative approaches. Their main aim has been to achieve success collectively.

Applying the correct solution working as a team, a joint effort with all parties actively involved with a high standard of communication and applying a best practice approach.

You will be comfortable discussing topics in depth and agreeing (or disagreeing) on important issues with your main objective being to keep moving forward and make progress. This attribute is pretty vital.
You should be passionate about delivering your IT projects successfully.

This venture should be a partnership, a joint venture where honesty, integrity, professionalism and above all success prevails.

Nothing should be that serious as to forfeit a lighter moment or two, particularly if and when the grey clouds start gathering.

Many a potential dark moment has been averted with a spot of light humour!

Hopefully you will be comfortable with having some humour incorporated into the proceedings. There is a time and a place for everything and obviously your work is very important but hopefully you will believe there should always be enough time for some of those light-hearted

So can we work together?

If you feel we can work together and that you fit the profile of an ideal client click here to find out about my initial free consultation. We get to know each other better and explore the possibility of moving on to the next stage. This can be done over the phone or maybe a formal or informal meeting – the choice is yours.

Alternatively, Click here to learn more about how I work, my beliefs, values and philosophy. Get a good idea of the results I can produce for you and your company and how we can be successful working together.

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