We have a full development team, so why are features stalling and the budget leaking?

A US translation and interpretation company handling thousands of transcribed meetings and translated documents for high-profile clients in government, healthcare, the private sector and other sensitive fields. It had an established development team, but no clear roles, no separation of responsibilities and no delivery process. Features stalled and money was spent without results.

1. 01Assessed the shortcomings across the company, not only inside the tech team.
2. 02Restructured the tech team, its procedures and its budget around clear roles, and hired an IT lead to own the back office.
3. 03Launched an internship programme that trained interns while they delivered real work for the company.
4. 04Ran due diligence on new features, vendors and partners before money was committed.
5. 05Launched the consolidation of the company's scattered data into one management information system.

Team

Before: No clear roles or separation of responsibilities

After: Defined roles, procedures and budget

Back office

Before: No dedicated owner

After: Owned by a dedicated IT lead

Spending

Before: Committed without structured review

After: Due diligence before every feature, vendor and partner

Data

Before: Scattered across systems

After: Consolidation into one system under way

The development team regained clear ownership and a working process, the back office got a dedicated owner, and spending decisions went through review. The data consolidation project was launched and handed over when the engagement ended.

1. 01A bigger team does not fix stalled delivery. Clear roles and a working process do.
2. 02Separate back-office IT from product development, or both will suffer.
3. 03Put a review step before every new feature, vendor or partner. Most wasted budget is committed in the first conversation.