ABOUT
We are committed to transforming how teams execute projects. Our approach focuses on the novel use of simple tools, engaging participants in new types of conversations, and establishing the rigorous application of core principles. For novice teams, these provide a starting point for getting organized. For experienced teams working on complex projects, we work with you to apply these techniques to enhance and refine, not replace, existing best practices and project planning tools your team is already using.
We work with teams in a broad range of industries, around the world, to execute their projects faster and more reliably. Our clients include semiconductor equipment manufacturers, financial technology software companies, US congressional offices, market-leading ice machine manufacturers, among many others. Whether you are a small startup with constrained funding and cutting-edge technology, or you are a business unit within a multinational company whose teams span continents and time zones, Risk Up Front has been used successfully on projects like yours. What these projects have in common is the need to create high-performance teams that are expert at identifying and mitigating risks so the will deliver the right result, reliably, on time.
Leveraging our Risk Up Front™ methodology, we coach project teams to accelerate product development, management teams to meet their quarterly objectives, and company-wide cross-functional teams to implement organizational change.
ACCELERATE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Risk Up Front(™) Product Development Framework
We are particular experts at coaching teams to ship products. The Risk Up Front ™ framework is at the core of our methodology. It has been successfully applied to a wide variety of team projects, from software development to political campaigns, though the “sweet spot” for our framework originated in high risk product development. Simple tools, rigorously applied, adds a critical dimension to your projects, transforming how teams talk about risk and make commitments. The end result is that the team will identify and mitigate risks earlier, yielding faster and more successful projects.
CREATE HIGH PERFORMANCE PROJECT TEAMS
Risk Up Front(™) Project Team Performance Tools
In our experience, cross-functional teams are the fundamental mechanism for getting work done in organizations quickly and reliably. Our clients regularly find themselves needing to form such teams spontaneously, achieve high performance rapidly, deliver results on time, then disband and redeploy individuals to form new teams to address new opportunities and challenges. The ability for an organization to flexibly and rapidly deploy such high-performance teams is a competitive advantage. We are experts at training and coaching managers, team leaders, and team members on how to build and maintain this core competency.
JUMPSTART ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Risk Up Front(™) Project Based Change
We believe organizational change is most reliably accomplished through short, focused projects assigned to cross-functional teams, that simultaneously deliver key business objectives and discrete measurable increments of the desired organizational changes. In organizations that appear to be “stuck”, we are experts at breaking the inertia (along with the accompanying cynicism and resignation) that stands in the way of progress.
HOW WE WORK
Our engagements begin with a set of interviews across the organization, which result in a brief report that is designed to be widely circulated among the targeted team. We then train and coach this pilot team, including management, that is focused on a commercially critical project. We introduce a set of simple tools and a shift in language that this pilot team adapts to the needs of the organization. Existing practices that are inconsistent with the values and goals of the company are revealed and addressed.
The initial, measurable goal of our work is that the milestones of the pilot project are completed faster and with greater integrity. We build upon the initial successes to spread best practices to other projects and teach the organization to coach itself.
We are not looking simply to teach a course or drop off tools. A worthwhile engagement requires the commitment and active participation by the entire cross-functional team, including senior management. Our clients regularly see measurable and significant improvement in their projects, organizations and profits because we are very effective at helping companies change the way they execute.