Mack is a Junior Consultant in our Delivery team; he joined us back in 2023 and is undertaking his BSc (hons) in Digital and Technology Solutions with Staffordshire University, alongside working with our clients. Five months into his apprenticeship journey, Mack shared why he made the call to select an apprenticeship over a traditional university route, you can read that article here.
Now almost 2 and a half years into his journey, Mack shares his insight into how a missing layer of structured accountability can lead to teams operating inefficiently and how addressing this recently has added true value to a client engagement.
Structured Accountability Insights
Most delivery teams don’t fail because they lack talent. They fail because accountability is assumed, not engineered.
Working as an independent consultant within client teams requires more than delivery expertise. It demands the ability to integrate quickly, build trust and bring structure without disrupting momentum. In each of my engagements, my work has focused on strengthening governance, improving the visibility of reporting and ensuring that delivery environments operate with clarity and accountability. None more so than a retail engagement I had the opportunity to work on last year.
RAID Management Refresh
A central part of my contribution was the transformation of RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies) management into a more structured and transparent process. A project management framework adopted in various guises, RAID is a tool that can be used to proactively manage projects, provide visibility and improve decision-making but can often be an afterthought instead of a focus within a transformation.
RAID can be undertaken in a variety of ways, but this engagement involved supporting the move to a unified Jira-based approach. I helped create consistency across risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies. This was not simply a tooling change; it required a clear understanding of how RAID operates within a broader business landscape and how it could be used to inform leadership decision-making.
I established and facilitated RAID focus groups and working group sessions, structured agendas to keep discussions outcome-driven, and ensured every session concluded with defined actions and accountable owners. Follow-up was built into the process, maintaining momentum and preventing actions from stalling.
This new approach for the delivery team meant that the programme had increased visibility and clear accountability upfront, rather than as an afterthought side of desk for everyone involved.
Stakeholder Engagement
Effective governance also depends on strong stakeholder engagement. I have worked across multiple levels of seniority during my time with this client, using a range of communication methods to maintain alignment and transparency and have seen the value that this can bring to a programme.
This included delivering executive summary presentations to senior stakeholders clearly outlining scope, goals and key considerations. When required, I represented key stakeholders in working sessions, facilitating discussions and ensuring that progress continued without delay. Both tasks again elevated accountability and reinforced the requirement for visibility across the programme of work.
Alongside governance and stakeholder management, I led requirements gathering and prioritisation activities, bringing order to complex inputs and aligning delivery with business value. My proficiency in Jira and Confluence supported this work, particularly through dashboard design and optimisation. I developed training guides to increase confidence and adoption, while driving improvements in data quality through clearer ownership, consistent standards and measurable metrics. The result was further improvements to reliable reporting and stronger visibility across programmes of work.
Across all engagements, my focus has been consistent: create structure where it is needed, strengthen accountability, improve data quality and enable informed decision-making within complex delivery environments. This has in turn influenced my university work, and the personal projects I have presented as part of this qualification.
It was a great opportunity to showcase the impact that introduction of these key accountability skills can have on a piece of work, and I can’t wait to see what the next assignment has in store!
Working with Early Careers Talent
Our Junior Consultants can often bring a fresh perspective when it comes to transformation objectives as their university theoretical work combined with on the ground experience creates opportunities for lateral problem solving.
To learn more about our Early Careers talent and how we enable you to grow at Lean Tree, head to our apprenticeship page.
