Executive summary
The client was undergoing a major modernisation project that had run significantly behind schedule. Frontwalker was engaged to independently review the project, understand the root causes of the delays, and propose concrete actions to regain control and prevent further slippage.
The challenge
1. Business challenge
The project required an independent understanding of the delays, a shared view among stakeholders, and a structured way to translate lessons into concrete, actionable recommendations.
Key business challenges included:
- A modernisation project for a widely used national platform had taken much longer than originally expected
- The project's steering group needed an independent, shared understanding of what had happened and why
- Stakeholders across project and steering groups needed a structured way to voice their perspectives and be heard
- Lessons needed to be translated into concrete, actionable recommendations rather than just a retrospective narrative
2. Technical challenge
The review required a structured approach to synthesising stakeholder input, validating findings, and developing recommendations for the current and future projects.
Key technical challenges included:
- The review needed to synthesise input from 11 interviewees across project and steering groups into a coherent, shared picture
- Findings needed to be validated with participants before being finalised, to ensure buy-in and accuracy
- Recommendations needed to work both for closing out the current project and for improving governance on future projects
What we did
1) Frontwalker’s approach and solution
Frontwalker conducted a structured independent review through document analysis, stakeholder interviews and validation workshops, resulting in a shared understanding of the project and concrete recommendations for improvement.
2) Delivered solution
- A comprehensive review report covering observations, root-cause analysis of delays, and concrete recommended actions.
- Six prioritised recommended actions for moving the project forward, delivered via follow-up correspondence.
- Presentation materials usable internally to build support for the recommended changes.
3) Engineering & delivery
- Structured document review of the pre-study report, project description and steering-group minutes ahead of interviews.
- 11 structured interviews with project and steering-group participants.
- Validation workshops with both the project group and the steering group to confirm and complete the emerging picture.
- A final report presented directly to the steering group, followed by a dedicated follow-up meeting weeks later.
4) Collaboration model
- Two Frontwalker consultants worked as a team to enable a high volume of interviews and workshops within a short timeframe, while strengthening quality during analysis.
- Direct engagement with the client's IT programme leadership throughout.
Business impact / results
Outcomes achieved
- A shared understanding of the project and its challenges, created with input from all participants - a foundation for changing ways of working
- A structured, participatory dialogue on needed changes, building engagement and understanding for change
- Clear visibility for the steering group on the issues that mattered most for project control
- Concrete short- and long-term recommendations for better project practices, relevant beyond just this one project
