Managing the full lifecycle of technology programmes, from initiation through planning, execution, and closure, using the delivery methodology best suited to each programme's context, constraints, and organisational culture.
Case StudiesThese engagements demonstrate how our Project Managers deliver complex programmes on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards, adapting their approach to each programme's unique context.
McHathaglen, a mid-sized construction and property development company, recognised that its traditional approach to IT project delivery was too slow to keep pace with the organisation's growth and the increasing demand for digital tools on construction sites. Projects were consistently delivered late, scope changes were poorly managed, and there was limited visibility of progress between formal milestone reviews. The organisation engaged Hibba Limited to lead an Agile transformation of its IT delivery capability.
Our Project Manager began by assessing the organisation's readiness for Agile, conducting interviews with stakeholders across IT, operations, finance, and site management to understand the current delivery challenges and the cultural factors that would influence the adoption of new ways of working. Based on this assessment, the Project Manager designed a tailored Agile transformation programme that introduced Scrum for software development projects and Kanban for operational IT support, recognising that different parts of the IT function had different needs.
The transformation was implemented in three phases. The first phase focused on a pilot project, a mobile application for site managers to report progress and raise issues, which was delivered using Scrum to demonstrate the methodology's effectiveness. The second phase expanded Agile practices to all IT development projects, with the Project Manager coaching three Scrum teams, establishing sprint ceremonies, and implementing tooling using Azure DevOps. The third phase addressed the wider organisational changes needed to sustain Agile delivery, including revised governance processes, updated procurement approaches for working with Agile vendors, and training for business stakeholders on their role in Agile delivery.
The pilot project was delivered in 12 weeks, compared to a 9-month timeline that had been estimated under the traditional approach. Within six months of the transformation, average project delivery times had decreased by 40%, stakeholder satisfaction with IT delivery had increased from 2.8 to 4.2 out of 5.0, and the IT function was delivering twice the volume of projects with the same team size.
Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Wakefield was upgrading its production line automation systems to increase throughput, improve quality control, and reduce downtime. The programme involved replacing programmable logic controllers (PLCs), installing new sensors and actuators, implementing a manufacturing execution system (MES), and integrating the production line with the site's ERP system. Due to the safety-critical nature of the work and the fixed commissioning window during a planned plant shutdown, a structured waterfall methodology was the appropriate approach.
Our Project Manager led the programme from initiation through to successful commissioning, managing a team comprising Coca-Cola's engineering staff, the PLC vendor's implementation team, the MES vendor's consultants, and specialist commissioning engineers. The Project Manager developed a detailed work breakdown structure with over 600 activities, established clear dependencies and critical path analysis, and implemented earned value management to track progress against the baseline plan.
The most challenging aspect of the programme was coordinating the physical installation work with the software configuration and testing activities, all within the constraints of the plant shutdown window. The Project Manager conducted detailed schedule risk analysis using Monte Carlo simulation, identifying that the critical path ran through the PLC installation and factory acceptance testing activities. Based on this analysis, the Project Manager negotiated an early start for PLC pre-commissioning in a dedicated test environment, which provided four weeks of schedule contingency on the critical path. The programme was delivered on time, within the 14-day plant shutdown window, and the new automation system achieved a 15% increase in production throughput and a 25% reduction in unplanned downtime within its first quarter of operation.
Nuffield Health was implementing a new patient management system to replace its ageing patient administration system across 31 hospitals. The programme required a hybrid delivery approach, combining waterfall planning for the overall programme structure, regulatory compliance activities, and infrastructure deployment with Agile sprints for the software configuration, customisation, and user interface design work.
Our Project Manager designed and operated the hybrid delivery framework, establishing clear boundaries between the waterfall and Agile elements of the programme. The waterfall components included the overall programme plan with fixed milestones aligned to hospital go-live dates, the regulatory compliance workstream (covering clinical safety assessments and data protection impact assessments), and the infrastructure deployment workstream. The Agile components included the application configuration sprints, user interface design iterations, and the integration development work.
The Project Manager implemented a rolling wave planning approach, where the current quarter was planned in detail, the next quarter was planned at a sprint level, and subsequent quarters were planned at a milestone level. This approach provided the certainty needed by hospital operations teams for planning their change activities, whilst giving the development teams the flexibility to adapt their approach based on what they learned during each sprint. The Project Manager also established a clinical safety governance process, working with Nuffield Health's clinical safety officer to ensure that each release was assessed for clinical safety risks before deployment to hospital environments. The programme delivered all 31 hospital go-lives within the planned 18-month window, with no clinical safety incidents during or after the transition.
Coca-Cola's Great Britain operation was transforming its supply chain technology landscape, replacing legacy systems for demand planning, warehouse management, transport management, and supplier collaboration with an integrated suite of modern platforms. The programme involved four technology vendors, Coca-Cola's internal IT and business teams, and a systems integrator responsible for end-to-end solution design.
Our Project Manager was appointed to lead the overall programme, with responsibility for coordinating the activities of all parties, managing the programme budget of 22 million pounds, and ensuring that the individual workstreams delivered coherent, integrated outcomes. The Project Manager established a programme management office (PMO) that provided standardised reporting, risk management, issue escalation, and change control processes across all workstreams.
Managing the interdependencies between the four vendor workstreams was the primary challenge. Each vendor had its own delivery methodology, tooling, and contractual milestones, and ensuring alignment between them required constant attention. The Project Manager implemented a weekly integration coordination meeting, a shared dependency register, and a programme-level integration test strategy that validated end-to-end supply chain scenarios across all platforms. The Project Manager also established commercial governance processes to manage scope changes that affected multiple vendors, ensuring that cost and timeline implications were assessed across the full programme rather than in isolation. The programme was delivered on time and 4% under budget, with full integration between all four platforms operational from day one.
Nuffield Health was implementing a clinical trials management platform to support its growing research activities across multiple hospital sites. The programme carried significant regulatory risk, as the platform needed to comply with Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) requirements, and data protection regulations governing the handling of sensitive patient data in research contexts.
Our Project Manager was brought in specifically for the risk management dimension of the programme, recognising that the regulatory and clinical risks required specialist attention beyond the capabilities of the existing project team. The Project Manager conducted a comprehensive risk assessment, identifying 47 risks across regulatory compliance, data security, clinical safety, vendor delivery, organisational change, and technical implementation categories.
For each risk, the Project Manager established clear ownership, defined triggers and early warning indicators, developed mitigation and contingency plans, and set review cadences appropriate to the risk severity. The Project Manager implemented a risk-adjusted scheduling approach, building contingency into the programme timeline at points where high-impact risks were most likely to materialise, rather than applying a blanket contingency across the entire programme. This approach provided transparency about where schedule risk was concentrated and enabled the programme board to make informed decisions about risk acceptance. The Project Manager also established a pre-go-live compliance checklist that systematically verified that all regulatory requirements were met before each hospital site went live. The programme achieved full MHRA compliance on first inspection, with the inspector noting the thoroughness of the risk management approach as a particular strength.
Our Project Managers bring proven delivery expertise across the full range of project management disciplines, adapting their approach to each programme's specific context and requirements.
Leading Agile delivery programmes using Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe frameworks. We coach teams in Agile practices, facilitate sprint ceremonies, manage product backlogs, and implement the tooling and metrics that enable continuous improvement in delivery performance and team effectiveness.
Managing structured waterfall programmes with detailed planning, work breakdown structures, critical path analysis, and earned value management. We apply rigorous planning and control disciplines for programmes where scope is well-defined, regulatory compliance is critical, or physical deliverables impose sequential dependencies.
Identifying, assessing, and actively managing programme risks through structured risk management processes. We use quantitative risk analysis techniques, establish risk ownership and mitigation plans, and implement early warning indicators that enable proactive intervention before risks materialise into issues.
Managing programme budgets with rigour and transparency, including cost estimation, baseline management, variance analysis, and forecasting. We implement earned value management and financial reporting that gives stakeholders confidence in the financial health of their programmes and provides early warning of potential overruns.
Coordinating multiple technology vendors to deliver integrated outcomes, managing contractual obligations, aligning delivery methodologies, and resolving cross-vendor dependencies and conflicts. We establish governance structures that promote collaboration and accountability across multi-vendor programme environments.
Designing and operating programme reporting frameworks that provide stakeholders at all levels with timely, accurate, and actionable information about programme progress, risks, issues, and decisions required. We produce dashboards, status reports, and executive summaries tailored to each audience's needs and decision-making context.
Our Project Managers bring the delivery discipline, stakeholder management skills, and methodology expertise that complex programmes demand. Whether your programme needs Agile, waterfall, or a hybrid approach, we deliver on time, within budget, and to the quality standards your organisation expects.
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