Services

Diagnostics, alignment,
and culture change.

Four specialist services for organisations who need a clear picture — and the confidence to act on it.

03

For investors & acquirers

Engineering Due Diligence for M&A

"The spreadsheet tells you what a company is worth. The engineering organisation tells you whether it can deliver what comes next."

Most M&A due diligence focuses on financials, product, and market position. Engineering — the function that will ultimately determine whether the integration succeeds — is often assessed superficially or too late. I help investors, acquirers, and leadership teams understand what they're actually buying before the deal closes.

Drawing on direct experience navigating M&A at Booking.com and Marktplaats/Adevinta, I assess engineering organisations across four dimensions: technical debt and platform maturity, delivery capability, leadership depth and team health, and organisational design and scalability.

What the assessment covers

Platform & technical healthArchitecture maturity, technical debt, scalability, and key dependencies
Delivery capabilityHow teams plan, build, and ship — and where the friction lives
Leadership & team depthQuality and stability of the engineering leadership layer
Org design & scalabilityWhether the structure can support post-acquisition growth
Culture & retention riskTeam dynamics, psychological safety, and flight risk signals
Integration readinessWhat will need to change — and how long it will realistically take

This is for you if

  • You're acquiring a tech company and need an honest engineering assessment before close
  • You're a VC or PE firm evaluating a portfolio company's engineering maturity
  • You're a founder preparing for acquisition and want to understand how your organisation will be perceived
  • You're post-close and the integration isn't going to plan

What you can expect

  • A structured assessment report with clear findings, risks, and recommendations
  • An executive summary suitable for board or investor presentation
  • A prioritised integration roadmap where relevant
  • A debrief session with your leadership or investment team

Engagements typically run 2–4 weeks depending on organisation size. I work with a small number of clients at a time to ensure rigour and confidentiality throughout.

Start the conversation →
04

For CTOs & VPs Engineering

Engineering Team Health Assessment

"Most leaders have a sense that something isn't working. The hard part is knowing exactly what — and why."

Engineering organisations are complex systems. When delivery is inconsistent, morale is low, or alignment is elusive, the root cause is rarely what it first appears to be. This assessment gives you a clear, honest picture of where your organisation actually is — across delivery, culture, leadership, and technical practice.

I conduct structured interviews, observe team rituals, review delivery data, and synthesise findings into a diagnostic that leadership can act on. This isn't a survey or a framework checklist — it's a considered assessment from someone who has led engineering organisations through exactly the challenges you're facing.

What gets assessed

Delivery healthLead times, deployment frequency, incident rates, and predictability
Team dynamicsPsychological safety, trust, collaboration, and conflict patterns
Leadership effectivenessManager capability, coaching quality, and feedback culture
Product-engineering alignmentHow well product, engineering, and commercial goals connect
Technical practicesDevOps maturity, CI/CD, testing culture, and platform health
Org designTeam structure, ownership clarity, and cross-team dependencies

This is for you if

  • You've inherited an engineering organisation and want an honest baseline
  • Delivery is inconsistent and you can't identify the root cause
  • Your teams are busy but not making the impact you'd expect
  • You're preparing for growth and want to know what needs strengthening first

What you'll get

  • A clear diagnostic report with findings across each dimension
  • A prioritised set of recommendations — what to fix first and why
  • A leadership debrief with time to discuss findings and agree next steps
  • An optional follow-on engagement to support implementation

Assessments typically take 3–5 weeks for a single engineering department. Everything shared with me is treated with full confidentiality.

Let's talk →
05

For leadership teams

OKR Design & Alignment Facilitation

"OKRs don't fail because people don't understand the framework. They fail because product, engineering, and commercial can't agree on what matters most."

Most organisations that struggle with OKRs aren't struggling with the mechanics. They're struggling with alignment — between functions, between levels, and between what the business says it wants and what teams are actually incentivised to do.

Having aligned OKRs across multiple product engineering domains at Marktplaats/Adevinta — connecting product, platform, and commercial goals across teams — I understand both the strategic and operational challenges. My approach is practical and facilitated: I work with your leadership team to design a system your teams will actually use.

What the engagement covers

OKR auditHonest assessment of what's working and what isn't in your current approach
Strategic alignment sessionsFacilitated workshops to align leadership on priorities before cascading
OKR designCo-creating objectives and key results that are meaningful and owned
Cross-team coherenceConnecting product, engineering, platform, and commercial OKRs
Cadence designBuilding the review and check-in rhythm that keeps OKRs alive
Team enablementCoaching team leads on how to write, use, and adapt their OKRs

This is for you if

  • Your OKRs look good on paper but don't change how teams actually work
  • Engineering, product, and commercial teams are pulling in different directions
  • You're introducing OKRs for the first time and want to get it right
  • OKR season creates anxiety rather than clarity — every quarter feels like starting over

What you'll walk away with

  • A set of well-crafted, aligned OKRs your teams believe in
  • A clear operating rhythm for tracking, reviewing, and adapting
  • Leadership alignment on priorities — in practice, not just on paper
  • A repeatable process your team can own independently going forward

Typically a focused 4–6 week sprint aligned to your planning cycle, though longer partnerships are available for teams who want ongoing facilitation support.

Let's talk →
06

For engineering leadership teams

Psychological Safety & Feedback Culture Workshops

"The teams that learn fastest are the ones where it's safe to be wrong. That doesn't happen by accident — it's built, deliberately, over time."

Psychological safety isn't a soft concept — it's the foundation of high performance. Teams where people feel safe to speak up, challenge decisions, admit mistakes, and give honest feedback learn faster, ship better software, and navigate change more effectively.

I design and facilitate practical, grounded workshops for engineering leadership teams — not theoretical sessions about frameworks, but hands-on experiences that shift how people relate to feedback, difficulty, and each other. Drawing on direct experience building feedback cultures at Booking.com, Marktplaats, and Shpock.

Workshop formats

Foundations of psychological safetyHalf-day — building shared understanding and team agreements
Giving & receiving feedback wellHalf-day — practical skills, real scenarios, immediate application
Building a feedback cultureFull day — for leadership teams who want to change the norm
Leading through uncertaintyHalf-day — maintaining safety and trust during change
Difficult conversationsHalf-day — frameworks and practice for conversations people avoid
Bespoke programme designCustom multi-session series tailored to your team's context

This is for you if

  • Feedback flows upward but not sideways or downward in your team
  • People are polite in meetings and honest in the corridor afterwards
  • Your retrospectives surface the same issues every sprint without resolution
  • You've recently brought together teams from different cultures or organisations

What participants leave with

  • A shared language for giving and receiving feedback with intention
  • Practical tools they can use in their next 1:1 or team retrospective
  • A clearer understanding of their own patterns and triggers
  • Team agreements that make safety and honesty the default

Workshops are designed for groups of 6–20 and can be delivered in-person or remotely. I work with you in advance to tailor content to your team's specific context and goals.

Let's talk →