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Project and change management

Most projects fail not because the technology or process was wrong, but because the change was underestimated.

Two parallel tracks from day one one for the project, one for the people. The 7Ds structure the delivery. The 5Cs drive the behaviour change. Without both, culture will eat your tech for breakfast.

Two root causes. Two responses.

01

Building the wrong thing

The most common failure mode is not a bad implementation. It is a well-executed solution to the wrong problem. Requirements assumed rather than investigated. Scope driven by what could be sold rather than what was actually needed. A business case built on aspiration rather than evidence.

Addressed by starting with the Function Diagnostic or Stream Diagnostic. Understanding the problem precisely is not overhead. It is what determines whether the project is worth running at all.
02

Underestimating the change

The second failure mode is a correctly scoped project that never achieves adoption. Training delivered at go-live and never repeated. Stakeholders who were informed rather than involved. A system that works technically but that the function works around rather than with.

Addressed by running the 5Cs in parallel with the 7Ds from day one of the project, not as a workstream added when go-live is approaching.
The frameworks

7Ds and 5Cs

Two tracks, one journey. The 7Ds and 5Cs run in parallel from the very beginning, not sequentially. Change management is not something you add before go-live. It starts when the project starts.

"Every legal tech implementation needs two tracks running in parallel from day one. The 7Ds deliver the tool. The 5Cs deliver the behaviour change. Without both, culture will eat your tech for breakfast." Michael Francony, Alternative In-House Tech Europe 2026
Track 1 Project management
The 7Ds
Seven phases from scoping to sustained adoption
D1
DefineWhat do we need and why. Success criteria, scope, and stakeholders. Grounded in the diagnostic work done before delivery begins.
D2
DiscoverWhat solutions exist. Demos, landscape mapping, and market assessment to inform the decision.
D3
DecideRFP, evaluation, business case, and sign-off. A structured decision with governance, not a purchase followed by a business case.
D4
DesignHow we will use it. Workflows, integrations, data architecture, and governance. Built from requirements, not from what the vendor recommends.
D5
DevelopConfigure, test, and iterate. With users, not just IT. Regular validation against requirements throughout.
D6
DeliverGo-live. The communications and delivery plan executes here. Go-live is a milestone, not a finish line.
D7
DemocratiseAdoption tracking, optimisation, and expanding use cases. The function takes ownership. The project team steps back.
Track 2 Change management
The 5Cs
Five dimensions running in parallel from day one
C1
ClarityThe why, and what is in it for each audience. Success criteria defined in human terms, not system terms. Set this before anything else.
C2
CommunityStakeholder map, sponsor roadmap, champion network, and resistance mitigation. The people who will make or break adoption, identified and activated early.
C3
CommunicationKey messages, channels, release sequencing, and a who/when/what matrix. Not a project newsletter. A structured plan that builds awareness, then intent, then habit.
C4
ConfidenceTraining, documentation, and UAT. Nobody opens the tool lost on day one. Role-specific, timed to when people need it, reinforced after go-live.
C5
Continuity30/60/90 day checkpoints, adoption metrics, reinforcement, and handover to business as usual. The plan for what happens after go-live. Who owns it, how it is measured, how it keeps improving.
The 5Cs begin on day one, not at go-live. By the time the system is ready, the organisation should already be ready too.
Track record

The full spectrum

Projects delivered across the full spectrum: off-the-shelf software, custom builds, workflow automation, and process change without technology. The method applies to all of them.

SaaS with system integrations

Contract Lifecycle Management

Delivered and scaled CLM platforms including integrations with other enterprise systems. End-to-end: from requirements and vendor selection through configuration, testing, rollout, and adoption.

50,000+ contracts · 20,000+ per year · under 24 hours initiation to execution
SaaS with system integrations

Legal eBilling and Spend Analytics

Led replacement of a legacy eBilling platform, becoming the backbone for legal spend analytics and management across the function.

50,000+ invoices per year
PaaS workflow and applications

Legal and IP Workflow Applications

Designed and delivered multiple workflow applications covering patent search, infringement reporting, copyright management, and IP litigation approval processes.

Multiple applications across Legal and IP
Home-built

NovaMatters Legal Matter Management

Built an internal matter management solution as a replacement for a paid vendor platform that was not delivering adoption. Designed, built, and launched within months.

5,000+ matters annually · still running eight years later
Process reengineering

IP Simplification and Harmonisation

Multi-year global programme across seven divisions. Unified seven divisional processes into a single agreed process with defined step-outs. Streamlined IP law rules, improved reporting and dashboards, and overhauled UI/UX.

7 divisions · one harmonised process
Recommendation not to proceed

Contract Analytics 2021

Led an RFP and piloting process for a contract analytics solution. The piloting results did not demonstrate sufficient return on investment to justify proceeding. The recommendation was not to implement. That recommendation held.

The right outcome is not always a go-live.
Connection to the model

Woven through all four phases

The 7Ds and 5Cs do not sit neatly inside the Deliver phase. They begin much earlier. Define and Discover map directly to the diagnostic work done in the Stream Diagnostic. Decide and Design connect to Stream Design. The Develop, Deliver, and Democratise phases are where the Deliver phase of the Continuous Operating Model is executed. And the 5Cs run from the very first conversation, adjusting and deepening as the project moves through each phase.

Operate is where it all lands. A solution that reaches Stream Operation in good shape with users who are confident, a function that owns it, and metrics that prove its value is what success actually looks like. Getting there requires all four phases to have been done properly.

Diagnose
Define and Discover. The problem statement and landscape that makes everything else precise.
Design
Decide and Design. The solution, the decision, and the governance before build begins.
Deliver
Develop, Deliver, Democratise. Project and change management in parallel throughout.
Operate
Continuity and Stream Operation. The real measure of success.

Read more about the full model

Good delivery starts before delivery.

The Stream Diagnostic is where requirements get defined properly. It is what makes everything that follows more precise, more likely to land, and more likely to hold.

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