Method
How a review
runs.
Independence is only worth anything if the method behind it is fixed. Here is how a review runs, the standard it follows, and the independence policy I hold myself to.
How a review runs
Four moves, in order.
Every review runs the same way — framed to a decision, evidenced before it is asserted, and reported against a fixed standard. A repeatable format is itself a credibility signal.
- 01
Frame
We agree who the review is for, what decision it serves, and what is in scope. The customer for the review is named at the outset.
- 02
Evidence
Documents, data and interviews. Findings are triangulated across at least two independent sources before they appear in a report. Comments are non-attributable.
- 03
Assess
A Red, Amber or Green Stage Gate Assessment against defined criteria. The RAG status is not negotiable — it is the point of the exercise, and softening it would waste your money.
- Red
- Amber
- Green
- 04
Report
With you within five working days of the review closing. Six to eight recommendations, each classified by urgency. Anything outside the programme’s control is logged separately as a blocker, with the escalation route named.
- Critical · do now
- Essential · do by an agreed date
- Recommended · adopt where practical
The standard it follows
Government assurance, independently applied.
The method follows the UK government assurance review model, and the independence expectation in Government Functional Standard GovS 002 Project Delivery (v2.1, September 2025), §4.2.2 — that assurance is provided independently of the management delivering the work.
The subject does not change the method. Where a programme is AI-enabled, the review asks the same questions of the tooling that it asks of any other supplier — who we are actually contracting with, where the data goes, what may be trained on it by default, and what happens to the programme if the vendor is gone in twelve months.
Independence
Independence is the product.
Independence is the product. It is also the easiest thing in this profession to quietly compromise, so mine is written down:
- I will not assure a programme I have delivered, or would bid to deliver.
- I hold no downstream implementation interest in any recommendation I make.
- I take no commission, referral fee or supplier relationship of any kind.
- Any conflict is declared before mobilisation, in writing.
- Where I have led a programme, assurance of it goes to someone else.
No published rule requires this of me. That is rather the point.
What it costs
Fixed fees, agreed up front.
- Independent Programme Review
- from £8,000, fixed, scoped by programme value and complexity.
- Delivery Assurance
- from £2,000 per month, minimum six months.
- Interim & recovery
- day rate, on application.
Fixed fees, agreed before mobilisation. No hourly billing, and no fee that depends on what the report says.
Contact
Ask the honest question.
Start a conversation.
If you need an independent read on whether a programme will deliver — or a review before a gate or an investment decision — a short, direct conversation is the best place to begin.