The plan says green. The work says otherwise.
I'm Badri. I help CEOs, COOs and CTOs at growing software and tech-enabled businesses find out what's true about a program that's slipping, and commit to a date they can defend.
Book a free 20-minute conversation
Free. You tell me what's slipping, and we decide together whether I can help.
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.
- Nobody can say who owns what the agents shipped.
Often there's a decision in there that nobody owns. I look for it 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. You get one page: what's true, what's assumed, what needs deciding, who owns each decision, and the date I'd defend. Or the reason I wouldn't. If your plan leans on AI productivity gains, I'll separate the ones someone measured from the ones someone hoped for.
- A free twenty-minute call. You tell me what's happening and we decide whether a Reality Check is worth doing. Nobody can diagnose a program in twenty minutes, so I won't pretend to. If you'd like 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. All three are fine outcomes.
How we'd work together
Most work starts as a rescue. The other two suit companies that want me in earlier.
Rescue
Something you committed to is slipping.
The Reality Check says what's true. Then we choose a recovery path and a date you can defend to your board.
Starts with the Two-Week Reality Check.
Fractional leadership
You need delivery run, not reported on.
I lead your program or delivery function part of the week, inside your team, and own the plan, the risks and the decisions. When agents write much of the code, that includes who reviews it and what has to be true before it ships. The aim is that you stop needing me.
Starts with a free conversation.
Advisory
You don't need me in the room every week.
A standing conversation with someone who has seen this before. Bring me the plan before you commit, the date before you announce it, the vendor before you sign, or the AI productivity gain your plan is counting on.
Starts with a free conversation.
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. No email needed. Print it and hand it to a colleague.
Prefer to click? Is your green really green? takes ten questions. How much should you trust the date? takes six. Counting on AI gains? The worksheet marks each one measured or hoped.
Who this is for
CEOs, COOs and CTOs at growing software and tech-enabled businesses 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.
Call me when
- A date you promised has moved, and another status report won't fix it.
- Delivery needs running and nobody has the time.
- You're about to commit to a plan, a date or a vendor and want it pushed on first.
Don't call me when
- The problem is understood, 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 spent more than twenty years in software delivery, most of it in the seat where someone asks why the date moved. I started as a project manager, grew into program director, then portfolio lead. Since 2026 I've done it on my own.
I've run delivery at the scale where a slipped date turns into a budget conversation with a client's CIO, with teams spread across time zones. I've owned a whole portfolio of programs at once, built the operating model for a new delivery division, and led the group that reviewed estimates on large deals. I've also worked in startups, so I know what a small company can and can't absorb. More recently I've led delivery of AI-enabled services. The size of the program changes the paperwork, not the problem.
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. I reply to every message within one business day.
Badri