Curzon’s first task was to accurately diagnose what had gone wrong — and to resist the temptation to simply accelerate a methodology that wasn’t working. Our assessment concluded that Agile, while theoretically appropriate, was not suited to the organisation’s current capabilities and ways of working. We recommended a deliberate shift to a traditional Waterfall approach — a pragmatic call that prioritised delivery over methodology orthodoxy, and one that immediately created the structure needed to start clearing the backlog.

With the delivery approach reset, Curzon turned to the backlog itself — analysing it systematically to identify quick wins that could be delivered rapidly and visibly, and defining which items needed to be prioritised to get the programme back on track. Alongside this, we worked to rebuild the team’s capability through targeted, structured hiring aligned to the Data Strategy target operating model.

Equally important was the reputational dimension. Curzon ensured that the Data team’s progress and achievements were made directly visible to senior leaders — giving the C-suite genuine line-of-sight into the recovery effort and rapidly rebuilding the trust and credibility that had been lost. By making the team accountable to leadership in a transparent and structured way, we turned visibility from a risk into an asset.