The Situation
A publicly traded global customer experience and BPO company with over 50,000 employees across dozens of markets, sponsored by the CTO and the VP of Transformation PMO, who carried direct accountability for technology and delivery outcomes.
Work arrived with no intake process, no prioritization framework, and no standard delivery model. Engineering time was untracked. Tooling was fragmented. The portfolio carried 60+ competing initiatives with no mechanism to sequence or eliminate them. Each layer addressed exposed the next, and the engagement ultimately spanned six parallel workstreams.
Challenge
No Intake Process
Work arrived via email, chat, and executive side requests, with no standard way to capture, score, or prioritize before resources were committed.
Spend Was Invisible
Engineering time was not tracked against OpEx or CapEx, so leadership could not see what initiatives consumed or whether they returned anything.
Fragmented Toolchain
Asana and Jira operated in silos with no integration, while Planisware ran at $172K per year with low adoption and no portfolio visibility.
60+ Ideas, No Filter
An accumulated backlog of competing initiatives with no forcing function to score, sequence, or eliminate them.
No Shared Delivery Model
Different teams ran different processes with different vocabularies and no shared model for how work moved from idea to execution.
Teams Built for Handoffs
Engineering was structured around functions rather than flow, creating coordination overhead and unclear decision rights.
Actions
Intake & Prioritization
A standard intake canvas with WSJF scoring against business value, time criticality, and risk. Applied to the 60+ backlog and rationalized to roughly 20 prioritized initiatives.
OpEx / CapEx Reporting
Tempo integrated into Jira so engineering and delivery time could be tracked against OpEx and CapEx for the first time, surfacing spend that had been flowing without accountability.
Tool Consolidation
Asana stood up as the intake and portfolio layer with bi-directional Jira integration. Planisware decommissioned and $172K in annual licensing eliminated.
Target Operating Model
One operating model across four functions covering cadence, decision rights, role definitions, delivery standards, and KPI/OKR governance, documented as a standing reference.
Engineering Restructure
Reporting lines redesigned to limit handoffs and stabilize teams, moving from functional silos to product-aligned ownership with no headcount change.
AI Usage Standards
Authored usage standards and a rollout plan for enterprise AI tooling, mapped against risk posture and contractual obligations to client banks and enterprises.
Results
$172K annual licensing savings
Realized resultPlanisware decommissioned and replaced by an Asana and Jira integration with full portfolio visibility, eliminating a tool with low adoption and no return.
60+ initiatives rationalized to ~20
Realized resultAn unmanaged backlog converted into a sequenced portfolio using WSJF scoring, with explicit rationale behind every retained initiative.
Four functions on one operating model
Realized resultShared intake, shared cadence, and one portfolio view across four functions that had operated in parallel.
KPI / OKR governance installed
Realized resultGovernance, prioritization, and KPI/OKR frameworks established and adopted as the standing reference for how work is chosen and reviewed.
OpEx / CapEx visibility for the first time
Realized resultEngineering time classified at the work-item level in Tempo and Jira, making initiative-level cost and return tracking possible.
Engineering restructure at no cost
Realized resultReporting lines redesigned, coordination overhead reduced, and decision rights clarified without changing headcount or the cost base.