01 / 11
A deck, written to be read
A status report can say green while the work says otherwise.
Platform migration: weekly status
Illustrative example. Not a real client's report.
I'm Badri. 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.
This deck is for reading, not presenting. The big sentence on each slide is the short version, and the paragraphs under it are the detail. Prefer paper? Download it as a PDF.
02 / 11
Why dates slip
Often there's a decision in there that nobody owns.
Month 1
Decision raised
Which program gets the shared engineers?
Work waiting on it
Month 2
Raised again
"We need more information." No one is asked to decide by a date.
Work waiting on it
Month 3
Raised a third time
Same decision, same room, same three questions. Owner of ending it: nobody.
Work waiting on it
Illustrative. Each block is a piece of work that can't finish until the decision is made.
A decision that keeps coming back is missing an owner. Every line on the status report can stay green, because the report tracks the work and not the decision the work is waiting on.
It's the first thing I look for. When that's the cause, the fix can be as small as one name and one date. PMI's 2015 Pulse of the Profession found that 47% of unsuccessful projects were affected by poor decision-making. That's about poor decisions rather than missing ones, so it fits the pattern without proving it.
03 / 11
What a green is worth
A green with no named owner is an opinion.
Every line on the report
Reported green
Question 1
Who owns it?
Question 2
What is it waiting on?
Question 3
Who checked?
Fictional example, taken from the sample on slide 6. The fifth green, AI adoption, is on the next slide.
Every dependency outside the team needs a person's name and a date next to it. "The platform team" isn't a name.
In the sample, four of the five greens were waiting on something. None of those waits had an owner, which is why none of them showed up red.
04 / 11
AI in the plan
An AI productivity gain nobody measured is an assumption with a budget.
Fictional figures from the sample page. They show the shape, not a benchmark.
Plenty of plans now count on AI making the team faster. Some of that is measured. Some is a vendor's number that went into the schedule as if it were. I separate the two.
More code is not more features shipped. If pull requests are up and the date hasn't moved, look at the review queue before you look at the team.
05 / 11
How I start
I start with a two-week Reality Check, at a fixed fee.
Day 0
A free 20-minute call. You tell me what's happening.
Within a day
Fee quoted in writing. Agreed before we begin.
I talk to the people doing the work and read what exists
Interviews, the plan, the contract, the status history.
One page
What's true, what's assumed, what to decide, the date.
I can't diagnose a program in twenty minutes, so I won't pretend to. The call is for deciding whether two weeks of looking is worth your money.
If you'd like an NDA first, I'll sign yours or send mine.
06 / 11
What you get
You get one page. It ends with a date I'd defend, or the reason I wouldn't.
From the sample page. The company in it is made up.
Every line shows what it's based on: an interview, the contract, the staffing sheet, the review-queue history. If I can't back a line up, it says so.
There's a one-page sample (PDF). Read it before you decide whether to call.
07 / 11
Then you decide
Then you decide: fix it yourselves, ask me to stay, or stop.
You've read the pageFix it yourselves
The page says what's true and who decides what. Use it. The fee was fixed and the work took two weeks.
You keep: the page.
Ask me to stay
I run the recovery, lead delivery, or advise. I plan my exit from the first week.
You keep: the page, and me.
Stop the work
If the page says it isn't worth finishing, you stop with a reason you can give the board.
You keep: the reason.
Any of the three is a fine outcome. I'd rather you used the page and never needed me than hired me for something you could fix yourselves.
08 / 11
Ways to work together
Rescue is the usual way in. There are two others.
Advisory
You have a decision coming and nobody neutral to think it through with.
A standing conversation, kept small. Bring me the date, the vendor, the hire or the plan.
Fractional leadership
You need delivery run, not reported on.
I lead your program or delivery function part of the week, from inside your team.
Rescue
Something you committed to is slipping.
We start with a Two-Week Reality Check, then choose a recovery path and a date you can defend.
You are reading this one.
Advisory and fractional leadership suit companies that want me in the room before anything has slipped. Both start with the same free call.
09 / 11
Who this is for
This is for CEOs, COOs and CTOs who've promised a date to a board, a customer or an investor.
Call me when
- A date you promised has moved, and another status report won't fix it.
- You're about to commit to a plan, a date or a vendor and want it pushed on first.
Don't call me when
- 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.
10 / 11
Who you'd be talking to
I'm one person, with more than twenty years in software delivery.
One project
Project Manager
Several projects, one outcome
Program Director
Several programs at once
Portfolio Lead
2026
On my own
Independent. One person, one page.
I've also worked in startups, so I know how much a small company can absorb. And I've run delivery where a slipped date becomes a budget conversation with a client's CIO, with teams spread across time zones. That's the pressure a rescue usually comes with.
11 / 11
Next step
Start with a twenty-minute call. Tell me what's slipping.
You tell me what's late, what's unclear, or what the status report isn't saying, and we decide together whether I can help. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so.
Or write to badri@deliveryliftpm.com. I reply within one business day.
Not ready to call? Start here