Prioritisation & Governance
From 30 competing projectsto a roadmapthat gets delivered
I help mid-market leadership teams decide what actually matters — build the structure and instil the behaviours to hold that line, and ensure the prioritised projects are delivered.
- 15+ years
- 16 countries
- C-suite & boards
From noise to one line
The pattern
I see the same pattern in almost every mid-market business I work with. There are more technology projects than capacity to deliver them. Every initiative feels urgent. The roadmap shifts every quarter, and nobody is confident the right things are getting done in the right order.
You're spending money on technology but you can't always tell what you got for it. Your board wants to see ROI on all technology spend. But half your IT budget is keeping the lights on, and some of that spend isn't even visible to IT — teams across the business are buying tools and platforms without oversight, and nobody has the full picture. Nobody is looking at the whole picture.
Prioritisation
When everything is a priority, nothing gets finished. The cost isn't just the projects that fail — it's the projects that never start because your roadmap was already full of work that shouldn't have been approved. It's the revenue you didn't capture, the operational improvement you deferred for the third quarter running, and the team that's burning out delivering everything while finishing nothing.
The value of good prioritisation
- Clarity on what matters and what can wait — not a quarterly debate
- Protected capacity — your team stops trying to do everything at once and starts finishing what matters
- Confident investment decisions — your CFO knows where the money is going and why, not chasing three people for three different answers
- A roadmap that sticks — decisions get made once instead of being revisited every quarter
- No more half-finished projects consuming budget, attention, and goodwill
Governance
Even when the right projects are prioritised, most don't land the way they should. Research shows that large IT projects run 45% over budget and 7% over time, while delivering 56% less value than predicted.¹ Organisations waste approximately 11.4% of their total technology investment due to poor project performance.² Not because the technology is wrong — but because the structure around delivery isn't there.
1 McKinsey & Company, 20122 PMI Pulse of the Profession, 2020
The value of good governance
- Clear ownership — everyone knows who's responsible for what, no more “I thought you were handling that”
- One source of truth — no more arguing about whose numbers are right
- Consistency — every project follows the same structure so nothing falls through the cracks
- Scalability — governance that grows with the business instead of breaking under pressure
- Accountability without micromanagement — structure that protects teams rather than policing them
Prioritisation tells you what to do. Governance protects that decision over time. Most mid-market businesses try one without the other and wonder why everything is in motion but nothing moves forward.
How well is your leadership team really managing competing technology priorities?
The Priority & Governance Health Check — 3 minutes, 8 questions, a clear picture of what's working and where the gaps are hiding.
Take the Health CheckHow I work
From a single focused session to an embedded retainer — explore the detail of how I work with leadership teams, including example engagements and what you walk away with.
Priority Clarity Session
A focused session for a leadership team that needs external perspective on a specific prioritisation or governance challenge
From £1,500
Retained Advisory
Ongoing embedded support — prioritisation discipline and delivery governance on a monthly retainer
From £3,000/month
Fixed-Price Engagement
A defined project with clear scope, timeline, and deliverables — from prioritisation reviews to full governance design
From £10,000
Founder & Board Advisory
Strategic guidance, board advisory, and mentoring for founders and leadership team members navigating growth
From £150/hour
In their words
“Helen was brought into Elvie by the then COO to help sort what was a complicated, expensive and poorly governed IT setup. IT at Elvie had grown somewhat organically. Helen did a 360 review, looked at the workload for all planned improvement and simplification projects and got Elvie started on tackling IT projects in priority order and to a well thought through — and sold through — plan.”
Michaela Tod
Non Executive Director | CEO | International Growth | Innovation
“Helen made an immediate impact at Elvie, with little support or guidance she quickly built a foundation of relationships that meant her contribution across several functions was positive. Fantastic understanding of the interconnectivity of delivery IT/System/Operational change. Not your typical consultant. Holding herself and others to high standards, Helen will be leaving behind key tools and processes that we will continue to use and develop.”
Chris Wood
Group Operations Director
“Working with Helen on our AI feasibility study gave me clarity I didn't have before. She helped me see past the hype and focus on what's truly possible for our business. I left the process with confidence, a roadmap, and real excitement about what's ahead.”
Shawna Cole
Founder
The Priority Call
For mid-market leadership teams where every initiative is urgent, every project is critical, and nothing is finished because somebody needs to decide what actually matters and make sure it gets done.
On LinkedIn
I write about prioritisation, governance, and the behaviours behind good technology decisions.