From the Author

A Dedicated Career in Enterprise IT Projects

My journey in enterprise IT project delivery has been shaped by 25 years of experience in complex IT projects within the Financial Services industry, including Wealth Management, Financial Markets, Insurance, and Superannuation. I have also contributed to impactful federal and state government initiatives. My work has taken me across Australia, including the ACT, NT, NSW, and Victoria, with a stint in the USA. These projects have delivered

• Product and service innovations

• Business transformations due to acquisitions and divestments

• The foundational installation of a trading platform

• Replacement of core systems, including product administration and records management systems

• Enhancements to existing systems

• Business-to-government reporting mechanisms for regulatory compliance. 

My commitment to lifelong learning has led me to earn the following certifications, providing an academic foundation in enterprise IT project delivery:

• Certified Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®) Program Consultant (SPC)

• Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®)

• Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®)

• Six Sigma Black Belt

• ITIL® Foundation

• PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner

• Process Mentor Business Analyst (UML).

While methodologies and frameworks evolve, I have intentionally allowed certifications requiring renewal to lapse—not because their principles have lost relevance, but because the fundamentals remain unchanged. I see limited value in subscribing to annual memberships to retain acronyms after my name. Keeping up to date with methodologies or frameworks is essential for those who adhere strictly to their principles and apply them rigidly in projects. However, my focus is on translating these theories into smart practices for real-world application.

From Experience to Expertise

What defines me as a project professional is a solid theoretical understanding of project delivery, enriched by practical experience in overcoming project challenges. Although qualified for various project roles, I built my career around business analysis—a discipline that aligns with my inherent soft skills: attention to detail, structured thinking, and strong written communication. I take a hands-on approach to resolving delivery bottlenecks, ensuring accountability in execution, and guiding teams towards industry standards and best practices

With Enterprise IT Projects: Messing Up Optional, I aspire to use my extensive experience to coach and share knowledge, influence positive outcomes, and contribute to the creation of value within organisations.

Lessons from a Misguided Start

Reflecting on my early career, I recognise how overconfidence often masked a lack of formal project knowledge. I moved from contract to contract, convinced I was building a career—yet my expertise was shaped solely by experience and exposure to flawed project practices.

For many years, I lacked formal IT project qualifications, unknowingly relying on misguided opinions and questionable practices handed down by equally underqualified project leaders. In hindsight, the first ten years of my experience were a write-off—I thought I knew it all, but I was blissfully unaware of what I did not know.

Bridging the Knowledge Gap

Professional development can be expensive and often disproportionate to future job prospects, as this profession lacks baseline entry standards. Many participants wake up one day and decide they are project professionals without relevant academic knowledge or experience. For me, however, professional certifications were a necessity, primarily because English is not my first language, making it challenging to articulate knowledge convincingly without fully understanding the topic. Simply put, I could not fake it if I were to make it. I invested in learning and development to speak the language of industry standards and grasp the intricacies of complex IT project delivery.