The Professional Services Transformation Paradox

For decades, the large professional services firms sold a relatively simple story: local partners, local accountability, and teams operating close...

For decades, most large professional services firms operated on a relatively coherent economic model. The details varied across audit, consulting,...

For a while, BDO looked like the firm that might give the professional services industry a clean counter-narrative. Grant Thornton...

Professional services firms increasingly present themselves as technology-driven organizations. Annual reports, strategy presentations, and leadership interviews are filled with references...

Professional services firms are designed to minimize risk. Their business model depends on trust, reputation, and consistency. Clients rely on...

For decades, the German tax advisory market was not simply fragmented. It was deliberately engineered to remain so. More than...

Professional services firms win through relationships. The closer they are to the client, the more value they create. Understanding the...

Professional services firms have long operated on a simple but rarely questioned assumption. They do not just employ talent. They...

The next decade will not be a normal cycle. It will feel like pressure building inside a structure that was...

Professional services firms are built around revenue. Revenue is visible, measurable, and immediate. It drives partner compensation, signals performance, and...

When Mazars and FORVIS officially launched Forvis Mazars in June 2024, the headline numbers made the story look familiar. The...

One of the defining features of professional services firms is partner autonomy. Partners are expected to build and run their...

Private equity has spent the last decade dismantling one of the most persistent assumptions in professional services: that partnership-based firms...

One of the most persistent illusions in professional services is the idea of “one firm.” From the outside, large firms...

Private equity is not entering professional services through one front door. It is entering through multiple side doors at once,...

Originally published April 2026, updated May 2026. Baker Tilly presents itself as a global firm, and by most external measures,...

One of the least discussed challenges in large transformation programs is the illusion of standardization. From the outside, global professional...

In boardrooms across the professional services industry, one reference point appears with almost ritualistic regularity whenever the idea of separating...

In large transformation programs, accountability is rarely missing. It is distributed. It sits with executive sponsors, steering committees, transformation offices,...

In June 2002, inside PricewaterhouseCoopers, something unusual had already taken shape. The firm was no longer discussing whether to separate...

One of the most underestimated constraints in professional services transformation is not technology, capability, or even funding. It is time....

One of the most persistent, and least openly discussed, tensions in professional services firms lies in how they execute their...

Originally published March 2026, updated May 2026. For most of its history, Grant Thornton operated through the standard global professional-services...

This article is part of a series exploring the tensions at the core of the Professional Services Transformation Paradox. The...

In 2022 and 2023, Ernst & Young pursued the most ambitious restructuring attempt in modern Big Four history: a plan,...

Most professional services firms are not poorly managed. In fact, many are managed extremely rationally. Partners optimize for the metrics...

For decades, utilization was one of the defining metrics of professional services firms. Partners reviewed it. Managers optimized for it....

Professional services firms tend to believe they understand their cost base. The logic feels straightforward, almost reassuring in its simplicity....

For decades, contribution margin has been the anchor metric of professional services firms. It offers a clean, intuitive view of...

Every executive has nightmares about that project—the one that spirals into an unmitigated disaster.  In general there are four ways...

Projects are like icebergs—what you see above the surface is just the tip. Below lies the complexity, risk, and opportunity...

"Trust, but verify." That timeless adage applies as much to critical projects as it does to diplomacy. Without an independent...

Launching a critical project without an executive sponsor is like sending a ship to sea without a captain—good luck steering...

Far too often, organizations assign critical projects to people who already have full-time roles or, worse, delegate management to a...

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) embarked on an ambitious journey to replace its 25-year-old Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS)...

In Switzerland, rumors suggest that both Bank Julius Bär and Raiffeisen Schweiz are grappling with failed technology projects, each costing...

The scale of the ambition became visible in 2015, when IBM formally launched Watson Health as a dedicated business unit...

The Boeing 737 Max, once heralded as a triumph in aviation technology and efficiency, has since become synonymous with one...

If you are a senior executive or a board member in the role of executive sponsor, project sponsor, or steering...

Critical projects are like Formula 1 races—you don’t just need a driver; you need a pit crew, strategists, and decision-makers...

The most important role on a large transformation project is the project sponsor.  Not the project manager.  According to the...

Is your project headed for trouble?  Find out! If you are a senior executive or a board member in the...

In the spring of 2012, JP Morgan Chase & Co. faced one of the most significant financial debacles in recent...

Reflecting on the 2024 Swiss Board Day in Bern it has become even more clear to me that understanding the...

Most transformation programs do not fail in execution. They fail in selection. Long before the first milestone is missed, the...

Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009, after defeating his opponent John McCain by 365 electoral college votes to...

Multinational system implementations rarely fail because of technology. They fail because the rollout model collapses under its own operational reality....

“This is what you get for 400 million, huh?”  Nike President and CEO Phil Knight famously raised the question in...

This month one of the book projects I have been part of has been published by Connor Court Publishing in Australia. ...

Executives, project sponsors, project managers, and steering committee members can learn a lot from how some deep technology startups approach...

Large organizations do not lose control of critical transformation programs because they lack capability. They lose control because they systematically...

Most SaaS implementations do not fail because they lack functionality. They fail because they are too slow to use. That...

In 2013, professional services company Accenture was awarded a ten-year, £46.11m contract to provide the i6 computer system to Police...

This is an article I have written for one of my clients. You can find the original article here.   Creating...

ERP never died. It changed form. When Gartner coined the term “enterprise resource planning” in 1990, it described a very...

I’m a firm believer in transformation through delivery. In my experience real change cannot be implemented without a vehicle that...

Large transformation programs rarely collapse without warning. They collapse because the warning signs are ignored. In post-mortems, the pattern is...

I have a very simple metric for determining the health of a project or an organization: the age of issues. ...

I have done quite a number of inflight reviews and post-mortems of troubled and failed large system implementation projects.  One...

We’ve all witnessed projects in trouble—the ones that required a quick and firm intervention in need of help from a...

A new year has just started, but also in 2021 companies will be talking about digital transformation often. I think...

I have had many heated discussions around these terms. People mix these up and it confuses your organization and its...

For many years, organizations, researchers, and practitioners have analyzed how to manage technology projects successfully.  Among them is the Standish...

Systems do not create value. Usage does. You can implement the most advanced CRM, ERP, or core system on the...

After investing $367.5 million in a child support enforcement system, the only thing that the state of Texas has to...

Executives do not struggle with IT because they do not understand technology. They struggle because they have delegated decisions they...

I work exclusively with executives and when there is one thing that I have learned over the years is that...

Many people and organizations seem to have serious trouble separating between the inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, impact, and the results...

Most executives agree with me that the biggest problems are not within roles but between roles.    Not within teams...

The title of this article is frequently credited to Winston Churchill (1874-1965), but he never said it. The saying first...

Risk management is at the core of good project management.    Or as Tim Lister says “Risk management is project...

Many people are discussing strategy and strategizing as if they were the sole outcome of a rational, predictable, analytical process....

In October 2016 the British multinational telecommunications company Vodafone achieved an unwelcome milestone - the single biggest fine for “serious...

Recognizing good strategy is hard.    You need to understand the organization, the market(s) it is operating in, its competitors,...

Balancing your project portfolio is like juggling one hundred balls... in a storm... on a boat.    Project portfolio management...

As an IT or information security professional, you cannot read a blog, book or paper without crossing paths with these...

When Lidl launched its SAP transformation programme, the decision was framed internally as a necessary step to modernize the technological...

Being in the middle of the yearly budgeting process I could not help but think about this quote from former...

One of the main reasons technology projects fail so often is their (underestimated) complexity.   Managing this complexity should be...

The title of this article is a quote from Tony Robbins, and he is absolutely right.   One of the...

A long-duration project is more likely to fail outright, meaning it will be cancelled or will not be used, because...

Strategy has little value until it is implemented. In a world where disruption can happen overnight, moving rapidly from strategy...

> You want to know where you are standing with that large, multi-year, strategic project? > You think one of your...

You can download the Project Valuation Model ™ for free by clicking here.   "Price is what you pay. Value is...

Let me say it again. There is no such thing as a digital strategy. Honestly. If you think your organization...

Project recoveries are really fun. They appeal to the ego because you are striving to achieve something that the previous...

Before focusing primarily on professional services transformation and governance, I spent years researching failed technology projects and transformation programs across...

A hands-on guide for all C-level executives, project portfolio owners, and project portfolio managers. It will show you: > Why...

Buy The Science of Technology Project Portfolio Management in my store. Just click on the image. Project Portfolio Management is...

Have you ever heard the head of sales, marketing, or manufacturing describe any other part of the business as his...

Innovation means the application of ideas that are novel and useful. Creativity, the ability to generate novel and useful ideas,...

One of the main reasons technology projects fail so often is their (underestimated) complexity. Managing this complexity should be an...

There is a simple truth about projects. All projects result in change. Some projects bring about small modifications to the status...

Oracle and its partners KBACE Technologies and Cognizant were sued in January 2019 by Barrett Business Services, Inc. (“BBSI”)  in...

One of the biggest hurdles that keeps senior executives from getting closer to technology is the complexity of today’s IT...

We always compare performance on a relative basis. “Well, it’s better than it was last month…” My toddler son, for...

Why do so many projects continue to fail? An important aspect is the increased complexity of projects and the environments...

Beginnings are always difficult. Projects are about people, people are about relationships, relationships are about trust, trust comes over time....

Project success is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Go around admitting doubt, and your project will fail. Tell everyone that it will...

Last few weeks I had a number of heated discussions around these terms. People get confused and make wrong decisions...

Fewer “bad leader” types have the capacity to paralyze a team more than a coward – the leader who praises...

International automotive fleet management company LeasePlan has been hit by a massive bill for a failed SAP implementation. LeasePlan has...

Over the years I’ve noticed a key distinction for project managers that deliver results and the ones that don’t. Project...

People don’t change. Unless they want to. Humans are unique in their ability to willingly change. We can change our...

Boeing expressed regret at the embarrassing communications it sent to investigators early January, which included a comment that “this airplane...

Persuasion is essential for a business and the projects that originate from this business. Customers must be convinced to buy...

There is a simple truth about projects. All projects result in change. Some projects bring about small modifications to the...

The payroll system implementation disaster at Queensland Health in 2010 is said to be the most spectacular technology project failure...

Recovery of troubled projects is a combination of art, science, and craft. Many have tried to translate project recovery in...

You can download the Project Success Model ™ for free by clicking here. Project success and project failure are NOT...

In order to assess project opportunities and make difficult trade-off and priority decisions about where to focus your limited resources,...

One challenge that every organization faces is deciding which project should be prioritized. Would it be in a company’s best...

The benefits of a project. Everyone talks about it, and there is no lack of opinions about what they are,...

As a project recovery specialist who works with organizations to help turn around troubled technology projects, I do a lot...

Car rental giant Hertz is suing consultant mammoth Accenture over a website redesign that ended in something that never saw...

The title of this article is a famous quote from former prime minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher. Below...

Being a responsible buyer of technology and outsourced software development services, and working well with suppliers during projects are crucial...

This is the third article in a series on the Project Recovery Model™, a proven approach for bringing troubled projects...

An executive project sponsor's role is a difficult one to navigate and execute. There are many strings pulling you in...

There are two ways to lose money on any given project 1) Create business value less than your actual cost....

This is the second article in a series on the Project Recovery Model™, a proven approach for bringing troubled projects...

Project governance is the serious business of taking responsibility for leadership. The mindset of many executive sponsors toward projects is...

Less than two years after entering Canada, Target shocked the retail world by pulling out. After accumulating $2.5 billion in...

Escalation of commitment is a human behavior pattern in which an individual or group facing increasingly negative outcomes from a...

Here is a simple truth about projects: All projects result in change. Some projects bring about small modifications to the...

Project success criteria in the form of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) should be the driving force behind your project...

In recent years, project sponsorship has been the focus of a lot of writing and discussion. Generally, it's agreed that...

Lessons Learned or Lessons Learnt are experiences distilled from a project that should be actively taken into account in future...

Cosmetics company Revlon’s roots stretch back to its 1932 nail polish launch by Charles Lachman and brothers Charles and Joseph...

One (relatively) easy and effective way of increasing the number of successful projects in your organization is improving your organization’s...

Your real project budget should always be expressed in terms of the expected project benefits. Simply put, project success occurs...

I have written many times about project success, and why I think it must be defined on three separate levels....

California’s Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) thought they were getting a good deal when they hired software as a...

Project management principles are the foundation on which the profession of project management is built. Conformance to these principles is...

Project success and project failure are NOT absolutes. It may not be possible to be a little bit pregnant, but...

I am a big believer of short and fat projects and I am very vocal about it. Because of this...

It was to be a great digital leap for Germany’s biggest discount grocer. Instead, after seven years and €500 million...

Any system is only as good as how well it is used. If its a CRM, ERP, or any other...

When dealing with one or multiple project stakeholders I often use the story below as the start of a planning...

On the morning of August 1, 2012, Knight Capital Group opened its systems for what should have been a routine...

Project support is priceless. Engaged executive sponsors help organizations to bridge the communications gap between influencers and implementers, thereby increasing...

As a project sponsor, you are ultimately accountable to the organization for the delivery of the business outcomes and benefits....

As a project sponsor or steering committee member you are probably familiar with scope creep. Sometimes known as “requirement creep”...

When I consult with executives, I sometimes start with this very simple exercise. I ask group members to come to...

Project portfolio management is not necessarily complex. The goals are clear and simple. 1) Maximizing the value of your portfolio...

The biggest mistake organizations make with project cost management is not doing monthly forecasting and controlling. Project cost management is...

National Grid USA (NGUSA), which is part of the UK-based National Grid Ltd., supplies electricity and gas in Massachusetts, New...

If you are responsible for managing portfolios of technology programs and projects, your success in maximizing business outcomes with finite...

With clients locked out of their bank accounts, mortgage accounts vanishing, small businesses reporting that they could not pay their...

Yes, I am willing to make that bet without knowing anything about your project, your team, your organization, your timelines,...

Big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, robotics, 5G, machine learning... Billions and billions are poured into projects...

Leadership and management are ultimately about being able to get things done. Your skills and qualities as a project manager...

It was to be a great digital leap for Germany’s biggest discount grocer. Instead, after seven years and €500 million...

When the UK government launched the National Programme for IT in 2002, it did so with a level of ambition...

I was recently asked to design and facilitate a workshop about technology project risk management for an insurance company. When...

After reading “Principles” by Ray Dalio for the second time this year I was thinking about what principles do I...

In project management, we often talk about “lagging” and “leading” indicators. Lagging indicators are typically “output” oriented, easy to measure but hard...

After you have defined your organization's strategy you can start implementing it. This is also called strategy execution. As explained in...

In my last article, I wrote about what strategy is, and what not. And although strategy is important, it is...

An essential part of strategy execution is linking your project portfolio to your strategy. This translation from strategy to actual projects implementing...

One of the main reasons why projects fail is not defining clear project success criteria. A project can only be...

The title of this article is a quote from Tim Lister, and is a universal principle for the success of...

It was to be a great digital leap for Germany’s biggest discount grocer. Instead, after seven years and €500 million,...

Project Portfolio Management is a combined system of tools, methodologies, and processes to support your organization in reacting to change...

Without exception, every large project I was involved with over the past 15 years had a Steering Committee (SC). Broadly...

Again and again, I am confronted with the situation during projects that I ask for a decision on something and...

Before we can solve a problem, we need to know exactly what the problem is, and we should put a...

An important part of the project reviews I do is a software development practices review. Notice I do not say...

RAID is an acronym for Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Decisions. Some use the "D" for dependencies instead of decisions, and...

In order to reduce risk on large software development projects, you need to figure out all the big unknowns as...

Business users specify their needs primarily through functional requirements. The non-functional aspects of the systems, like performance, responsiveness, up-time, support...

I have written about project portfolio management extensively. In all my articles I relentlessly repeated the three goals of Project...

Projects fail for many reasons: optimistic estimates; technology that doesn’t work as advertised; misunderstanding the needs of key stakeholders; plans...

Reviews can serve a wide range of stakeholders and fulfill a variety of roles. It’s therefore not surprising that organizations...

In my experience, most issues that arise in software development projects are people issues, not technical ones. DeMarco and Lister...

Just finished reading the book "Performance-Based Project Management" from Glen B. Alleman. You might know him from his very popular...

Stakeholder Engagement and Stakeholder Management is essential for defining and realizing project success. One important tool to help you with...

Stakeholder engagement and stakeholder management are arguably the most important ingredients for successful project delivery and yet are often ignored...

When you know that you have a seriously troubled software project at your hands the first step in the process of...

1. Saves time and money Software tests have to be repeated often during development cycles to ensure quality. Every time...

Because of my work as a project recovery consultant, I talk a lot about testing, continuous integration, continuous delivery, continuous...

Too many organizations try to save money on projects (cost efficiency) when the benefits of completing the project earlier far...

Projects fail for a variety of reasons. Especially technology projects have a low success rate. Typically more than half of them are...

Most of my work as a project recovery consultant is with what you can call "troubled projects". But what does...

> You want to know where you are standing with that large, multi-year, strategic project? > You think one of your...

Project success and project failure are NOT absolutes. It may not be possible to be a little bit pregnant, but you...

Assuming an iteration between two and four weeks: 1) Programmers will write unit tests in the code to ensure product...

For large or high-risk projects (what is large depends on your organization) it should be mandatory to do business case validation before...

As defined in the Simple Portfolio Management Framework, the Project Backlog is an ordered list of all projects that might...

When you look at the project portfolio funnel of the Simple Portfolio Management Framework (SPMF) it looks like the diagram...

Creating new and better products that thousands or millions of customers actually love is a top priority for almost every...

Assuming you suspect or know that one of your projects is in trouble the first step is always an extensive...

When you’re dealing with a troubled project, there are usually a number of red flags surrounding you. This article is written from the...

Agile Frameworks and books tell us how to build a product--that's the easy part... What we are not told are equally...

The metaphor of technical debt in code and design can be defined as follows: You start at an optimal level...

Organizations do not lose control of large technology programs because they outsource work. They lose control because they outsource understanding....

During the LeSS training in Berlin last week with Craig Larman he mentioned the best estimating method he knows for...