Turn Strategy Into
Funded Reality

Most initiatives fail before delivery begins — when the wrong problem gets funded, stakeholders aren't aligned, and success was never clearly defined.

We help leaders cut through competing priorities and build genuine consensus around what to invest in, what to stop, and how to set delivery up for real outcomes.

Whether you're an executive navigating competing priorities or a senior manager building the case for your initiative, we provide practical, people-focused support to align stakeholders, shape stronger investments, and set delivery up for success.

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Kirk McVean — Managing Director, Valueshapers

Our Experience

Led by Kirk McVean, our team brings 15+ years of progressive leadership spanning enterprise portfolio management and independent consulting.

Enterprise Leadership

We've established and led portfolio management functions, managing multidisciplinary teams and overseeing complex technology portfolios from strategy through delivery.

Consulting Expertise

We've provided strategic advisory services to organisations across energy, utilities, IT, education, and government — helping them strengthen investment decisions, portfolio practices, and delivery confidence.

This combination gives us the operational credibility to understand what actually works inside complex organisations, and the strategic perspective to see beyond internal assumptions.

Credentials & Achievements

  • Multiple awards for professionalism, problem-solving, and client focus
  • Planned and managed complex enterprise migrations including ERP systems, payroll platforms, PPM solutions, Microsoft 365 tenants, and knowledge management systems at multiple organisations
  • Designed and developed AI solutions that significantly improved Professional Services profitability
  • MBA, BA Psychology, PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, AgilePM, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, ITIL
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How We Work

01

Build Trust Quickly

We establish credibility across diverse stakeholders through careful listening, transparency about trade-offs, and consistent follow-through.

02

Drive Genuine Consensus

Our collaborative approach helps competing interests find common ground without forcing artificial compromise — which means decisions stick.

03

Keep People at the Centre

We balance technical rigor with change management awareness, ensuring solutions work for the humans who'll use them.

04

Optimise for Outcomes

We run tightly structured workshops that value participants' time and deliver concrete results. We create deliverables that move decisions forward, not documentation for its own sake. Everything is concise, readable, and told as a clear story — because stakeholders need clarity and direction.

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Services

Requirements, Workshops & Solution Design

Create clarity early by aligning stakeholders on what to build and why.

What's Included

Business requirements gathering, decision-focused workshops, solution and process design

Outcome

Shared understanding, faster delivery, less rework

Investment & Business Case Advisory

Turn ideas into clear, evidence-based decisions.

What's Included

Business case development, options analysis, financials, risks, benefits, investment prioritisation

Outcome

Funding goes to initiatives that matter most

Project Delivery & Portfolio Health Checks

Get an independent view of how projects, programs, and portfolios are really tracking.

What's Included

Health assessments, delivery risk and dependency analysis, prioritised recommendations

Outcome

Issues surfaced early and addressed decisively

PMO & Portfolio Enablement

Establish or improve PMOs and portfolio practices that support delivery instead of slowing it down.

What's Included

PMO setup and uplift, simplified governance and reporting, portfolio prioritisation and visibility

Outcome

Better decisions with less bureaucracy

Enterprise System Transitions & Migrations

Modernise or replace enterprise platforms without disrupting active operations.

What's Included

Migration strategy and planning, platform transitions (ERP, PPM, payroll, collaboration tools), process alignment, stakeholder engagement

Outcome

Smooth transitions with minimal operational risk

Benefits & Value Realisation

Ensure benefits are defined, owned, and realised — not assumed.

What's Included

Benefits definition and ownership, tracking and reporting, value realisation frameworks

Outcome

Clear evidence that investment is delivering outcomes

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Let's Connect

Book a no-obligation meeting to discuss your objectives and how we can help.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is a business analyst consultant different from a project manager or strategy consultant?

We sit between strategy and delivery. Strategy consultants focus on what should be done, project managers on how to deliver it. We focus on making sure the right thing is being delivered in the first place — and that it creates real value.

Our work connects strategic intent to practical decisions: shaping investments, clarifying requirements, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring delivery efforts are worth the investment.

What types of problems are you best suited to help with?

We're most effective with complexity, competing priorities, or important decisions with real consequences:

  • Deciding which initiatives to fund (and which not to)
  • Turning vague ideas into clear, evidence-based business cases
  • Building stakeholder consensus across diverse and competing interests
  • Improving delivery confidence across projects or portfolios
  • Planning enterprise system migrations and platform transitions
  • Ensuring benefits are actually realised, not just promised

If it involves uncertainty, stakeholder alignment challenges, or decision fatigue — that's our sweet spot.

How do you typically engage, and what does a standard engagement look like?

Engagements are project-based and outcome-focused, not open-ended:

  • Short discovery to understand context, objectives, and constraints
  • Targeted analysis, workshops, or reviews tailored to the decision
  • Clear outputs and recommendations leaders can act on immediately

We scale involvement to what's genuinely needed — from short advisory engagements to deeper delivery or portfolio support.

How do you get up to speed in a complex organisation quickly?

Our team has spent 15+ years both leading and consulting across large, complex organisations in energy, utilities, IT, education, and government. Complexity is familiar territory.

We focus early on understanding decision rights and governance, mapping dependencies and constraints, and identifying what really matters to different stakeholders. That lets us cut through noise, ask better questions, and get productive quickly.

What outputs will we actually get at the end?

Tangible, decision-ready outputs:

  • Business cases with clear options, financials, risks, and benefits
  • Tailored methodology for portfolio selection and prioritisation
  • Business requirements and solution designs
  • Portfolio or delivery health assessments with practical actions
  • Migration plans and transition roadmaps for enterprise systems
  • Benefits and value realisation frameworks

Everything supports real decisions and delivery, not documentation for its own sake.

How do you build trust and alignment across diverse stakeholders?

We establish trust quickly through careful listening, transparency about trade-offs, and consistent follow-through.

We use decision-focused workshops and structured engagement to surface assumptions and differences early, clarify trade-offs explicitly, and build shared ownership of outcomes. Our collaborative, warm approach helps competing interests find genuine common ground rather than forced compromise.

This reduces rework and friction later because people feel heard and understood.

How do you balance rigour with pragmatism?

We're rigorous where it matters and pragmatic elsewhere. We apply best-practice thinking only to the extent it improves decisions or outcomes. If something doesn't materially change a decision, we don't over-engineer it.

The goal is clarity and momentum, not academic perfection.

How do you measure success for your work?

Success is measured by better decisions and better outcomes, not activity:

  • Funding directed to higher-value initiatives
  • Faster agreement on scope and priorities with genuine stakeholder buy-in
  • Reduced delivery risk and rework
  • Smooth enterprise transitions without operational disruption
  • Clear evidence of benefits being realised

If leaders can make confident decisions more quickly and delivery teams are set up to succeed, the engagement has done its job.

What industries or types of organisations do you typically work with?

We've worked extensively with mid-to-large organisations across energy, utilities, IT, education, and government — particularly those managing complex portfolios and large technology-enabled change.

We've also planned and led enterprise migrations including ERP systems, payroll platforms, PPM solutions, Microsoft 365 tenants, and knowledge management systems.

While industry context matters, challenges around prioritisation, stakeholder alignment, delivery confidence, and value realisation are remarkably consistent. That's where our experience translates well.

How do you price your services, and how should we think about value?

Pricing depends on scope, complexity, and involvement level, and is agreed upfront.

Think about value in terms of:

  • Avoided investment in low-value initiatives
  • Reduced delivery risk and rework
  • Faster, higher-quality decisions with stakeholder confidence
  • Smoother enterprise transitions
  • Clearer accountability for outcomes and benefits

In most cases, the value of better decisions far outweighs the cost of the engagement.

Still Have Questions? Let's Talk