01 / 12
The pitch 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 businesses find out what's true about 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. The paragraphs under it are the detail. Prefer paper? Download it as a PDF.
02 / 12
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." Nobody 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. Each item on the status report can still be green, because the report tracks work, not the decision the work is waiting on.
That's the first thing I look for. When it is that, 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, not missing ones, so it supports the pattern without proving it.
03 / 12
What a green is worth
A green with no named owner is an opinion.
Data migration
Blocked on a vendor API change. Nobody on either side owns it.
✕ No owner namedIntegrations
No agreed definition of done. The customer team has accepted 3 of 11.
✕ No owner namedLaunch date
Already moved twice. No team lead I spoke to expects June 12.
✕ No owner namedResourcing
Two programs are booked to the same 4 engineers in April and May.
✕ No owner namedFictional example, taken from the sample on slide 6. The fifth green, AI adoption, is on the next slide.
For each green, I ask three things: who owns it, what is it waiting on, and who checked?
Every dependency outside the team needs a person's name and a date next to it. "The platform team" isn't a name.
04 / 12
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.
Many plans now count on AI making the team faster. Some of that is measured. Some is a number from a vendor that went into the schedule as if it had been. 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 / 12
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.
Nobody can 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 / 12
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 / 12
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. The next slide shows how.
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.
All three are fine outcomes. I'd rather you used the page and never needed me than hired me for something you could fix yourselves.
08 / 12
Ways to work together
If you want me to stay, there are three ways to work together.
Advisory
You don't need me in the room every week.
A standing conversation. Bring me the plan before you commit, the date before you announce it, the vendor before you sign.
Starts with a free conversation.
Fractional leadership
You need delivery run, not reported on.
I lead your program or delivery function part of the week, inside your team. I own the plan, the risks and the decisions.
Starts with a free conversation.
Rescue
Something you committed to is slipping.
We choose a recovery path and a date you can defend to your board.
Starts with the Two-Week Reality Check.
Rescue is the usual way in: something has already slipped, and the Reality Check comes first.
Advisory and Fractional leadership suit companies that want me in the room before anything has moved.
09 / 12
Where I stop
The goal is that one day you don't need me.
I stay through the hard part, then I leave. A handover only counts if every item has a person's name on it, not a team's.
When agents write much of the code, part of the handover is deciding who reviews it, who owns it, and what has to be true before it ships.
10 / 12
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.
- 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.
11 / 12
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 started as a project manager, grew into program director, then portfolio lead: more than twenty years, most of it in the seat where someone asks why the date moved. I've also worked in startups, so I know what a small company can and can't absorb.
I've run delivery where a slipped date becomes 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. More recently I've led delivery of AI-enabled services. The full résumé is on LinkedIn.
12 / 12
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 plainly.
Or write to badri@deliveryliftpm.com. I reply to every message within one business day.
Not ready to call? Start here