Publications
Leaders, It's Not How You Finish
Twenty years of systems engineering — including safety-critical jet fighter systems — and psychological coaching, distilled into why Agile transformations really fail, and how to start one right.
Buy the book →Why this book, why now
Written in the summer of 2018, published in 2019. It's framed around genuine Agile transformation — but the underlying failure pattern it describes (leadership and culture collapsing under process change) is the same one the wider transformation research confirms applies far beyond Agile. The mechanics are specific to Agile; the argument isn't.
The problem
Most transformations don't fail because teams won't adopt a new process. They fail because leadership tries to install a process without changing how it leads.
Only 16% of digital transformations improve performance and sustain it. Leadership buy-in and unclear vision — not budget, not capability — are executives' top-ranked causes of failure. This book was written before that research existed. It reaches the same conclusion from the inside of real transformations.
Pseudo-Agile vs. genuine transformation
Pseudo-Agile installs a new process manual and calls it done. Genuine transformation requires a different starting point:
Top-down, not bottom-up
Culture change starts with the leadership team, not the delivery teams.
Mindset over process
The goal is being agile, not performing it.
Sponsorship through ownership
This can't be delegated to middle management or outsourced to consultants and still stick.
What's inside
The Pre-TX Model
A 90-day, five-step approach to starting a transformation right, before a single process changes.
Leadership Alignment Session
A grounding in what's actually involved, so the decision to proceed is informed.
Organisational Readiness Assessment
An honest read of current culture, appetite, and blockers.
Leadership Immersion
Leaders experience the new way of working themselves, first.
Co-Diagnosis
Identifying the real problem, not the assumed one.
Co-Design
A jointly built, feasible roadmap for your specific organisation.
Why listen to me
Twenty years working across systems engineering on safety-critical platforms and psychological coaching with leaders. This book sits at the intersection of both — the discipline of engineering rigour applied to the human side of change. It won't hand you a one-size-fits-all methodology. It will help you become the trusted advisor your own organisation needs before it starts.
Ready to start your transformation right, not just fast?
Buy the book →Online payment coming soon — email for now and I'll sort you out directly.