The plan says green. The work says otherwise.
I help CEOs, COOs and CTOs at growing software and tech-enabled companies find out what's really going on with a program that's slipping, and commit to a date they can defend.
Free. You tell me what's slipping, and we decide together whether I can help. Prefer to read first? Read it as a deck.
Illustrative example. Not a real client's report.
Want to see what you'd get at the end? Here's a one-page sample (PDF). The company is made up.
You'll recognize this.
- You've moved the date twice.
- The steering meeting asks the same three questions every month.
- Your strongest engineer has gone quiet in standups.
- Work handed across time zones comes back wrong, or a day late.
- Pull requests are up. The date hasn't moved.
- No one can say who owns the code the AI agents shipped.
Often there's a decision in the middle of it that nobody owns. I look for that first. Then I make the plan believable.
Start with the Two-Week Reality Check.
The fee is fixed, quoted in writing within a day of our call, and agreed before we begin. At the end you get one page: what's true, what's only assumed, what needs deciding, who owns each decision, and the date I'd defend. If I can't defend one, you get my reasons instead. If your plan leans on AI productivity gains, I'll separate the ones someone measured from the ones someone hoped for.
- A free 20-minute call. You tell me what's happening and we decide whether a Reality Check is worth doing. I can't diagnose a program in twenty minutes, so I won't pretend to. If you want an NDA first, I'll sign yours or send mine.
- Two weeks. I talk to the people doing the work, read what exists, and write the page.
- You decide. Fix it yourselves, ask me to stay, or stop the work. Any of the three is a fine outcome.
The six questions I ask first
Try them on your own program. When the answers disagree, you've found the place to start.
- What did we promise, and to whom?
- What do we know, and what are we only assuming?
- What has to happen elsewhere first, and who owns it?
- Which decision keeps coming back around?
- Whose capacity is this plan quietly counting on?
- If it ships on time, does it still matter?
Free, and no email needed. Print it and hand it to a colleague.
Prefer to click? Three short self-checks, nothing stored: Is your green really green? (ten questions), How much should you trust the date? (six), and the AI worksheet, which marks each productivity claim measured or hoped.
Who this is for
CEOs, COOs and CTOs at growing software and tech-enabled companies who have made a commitment to a board, a customer or an investor.
I'm also glad to talk with operating partners at private-equity firms whose portfolio company has a date slipping. Here's what that looks like.
Probably not for you if
- You already understand the problem, owners are named and decisions are getting made. Save your money. I'll tell you so on the call.
- You want a big team, a framework or a long deck. I'm one person, and I write one page.
Who you'd be talking to
I'm Badri S. I've run delivery where a slipped date turns into a budget conversation with a client's CIO, with teams spread across time zones. That's the kind of pressure a rescue usually arrives with, and I'm used to working inside it. More than twenty years in software delivery, from project manager to portfolio lead. Independent since 2026.
Other ways to work together
If this isn't quite your situation, one of these may be.
Advisory
You have a decision coming and nobody neutral to think it through with.
Tell me what's slipping.
What's late, what's unclear, or what the status report isn't saying. I'll read it myself and tell you whether I can help.
Or email badri@deliveryliftpm.com. I reply within one business day.