How it works
Find out first. Then fix it.
Most IT problems look like one thing and turn out to be another. I start by finding out which one you actually have, then fix the most expensive part first. You decide at every step whether to keep going.
IT assessment
I talk to your leadership, your IT team and the business. I look at the systems, the incidents and the spend.
You get: a plain-English answer on whether the problem is the system, the team or the budget, with priorities ranked by dollars.
Fix the most expensive problem
We pick the one fix with the biggest payoff and get it into production. Your team does the work. I lead, coach and clear the roadblocks.
You get: a working fix, measured results you can show your board, and a team that knows how to do it again.
Fractional CIO or advisory
For companies that need senior IT leadership without a full-time hire: roadmap, budget, vendors, steering committee and coaching for your IT leaders.
You get: a CIO in the room, part-time, accountable for results.
Is this a fit?
Works best if
- You're a $50M to $750M company
- IT is slow, unstable or expensive, and nobody can say exactly why
- You want your team made better, not replaced
- You want results proven before you commit to more
Probably not a fit if
- You need staff augmentation or a body shop
- You want a three-year strategy deck without execution
- Your team won't have any time to take part
Common questions
How is this different from hiring a consulting firm?
No team of consultants and no roadmap that sits on a shelf. You get one experienced IT leader who diagnoses the problem, then coaches your people through fixing it.
My team is already overwhelmed. Where does the time come from?
The first fix is chosen because it frees up time: fewer incidents, less manual work, fewer emergencies. It pays your team back before it asks for more.
What systems do you know?
Both custom and packaged. At Best Buy I ran a custom ERP and order management platform, plus WMS, that processed $4B+ in goods a year. At 5.11 it was D365 Finance & Operations and D365 CRM on Azure.
Around both sat a mix of vendor platforms: eCommerce, POS, PLM, retail allocation, HR and payments. Making custom and vendor systems work together is most of the job, and the patterns repeat across stacks.
What about AI?
AI is step 47, not step 1. It pays off on a stable foundation and makes a mess worse on a shaky one. At 5.11 I wrote the company's first AI usage policy and enforced it, including saying no to connecting AI tools to production systems. Today I'm building AI-assisted tooling for ERP code assessment, so the diagnosis gets faster.
On-site or remote?
Both, and travel is fine. I'm in Orange County, California. On-site for local clients, remote with on-site visits for kickoffs and key milestones everywhere else.