Case in Point
He thought he had 50 separate problems. We found five programs — and a path to execute them.
When an executive says, “I have 40 or 50 things that must get done this year,” the problem is rarely effort. It is visibility.
One key technology sponsor at a major telecom retailer was carrying a mandatory portfolio spanning acquisition integration, timekeeping, infrastructure upgrades, labor scheduling, and workforce analytics — but had no integrated plan showing how the work fit together.
Name the pain
The Execution Fog
A critical workload feels impossible because its initiatives, dependencies, owners, resources, and decisions have never been organized into one executable view.
Nothing could simply be dropped
Integration supported the organization’s ability to operationalize a major transaction. Hardware and software upgrades were needed to avoid unsupported Kronos technology and costly extensions. Meanwhile, workforce scheduling had to advance a customer-first retail strategy, putting employees in stores when customers needed them, even when the purchase might come months later.
Without one coordinated program, delays in any workstream would have a trickle-down effect.
From 50 obligations to five workstreams
Over lunch, I helped the sponsor turn 40–50 obligations into five coherent workstreams. We built the initial list, then converted it into an integrated milestone plan, project schedule, resource model, program charter, PMO, and executive steering structure.
Drawing on more than 50 transformations across 30 years, I gave the sponsor what complexity had taken away: a clear path to mobilize people, make tradeoffs, and execute.
If your mandate feels too large to organize, the first move is not adding more people. It is making the work visible.
Proof
The program coordinated technology upgrades, acquisition-related integrations, labor scheduling, and workforce analytics across approximately 2,100 retail locations. Automated scheduling reduced manual schedule creation to exception handling and approvals, while integrated time-off and timesheet processes returned additional capacity to employees.
1.2–1.7M
hours of annual workforce capacity released
$7.8–$10.4M
in annual employee capacity redirected toward customers and store operations