Testimonials

"After yesterday's presentation of proposals for creation of the site I am more convinced than ever that your conceptual framework really helped us a lot. It helped us be more clear about what we want and need, and gave us a very clear architecture. And the very practical and concrete parts (for example the business event catalogue) were very useful in understanding what the companies propose and what we are going to have (or not). So thanks again! "
Hermine Masmeyer, Council of Europe

"A truly impressive piece of thinking, presentation and articulation of a complex subject for many and various audiences. The project required expertise and intelligence in many unrelated fields. We were extremely fortunate to work with Graham and get such a high quality, thoughtful deliverable that meets needs we didn't even know we had prior to the project's beginning."
Jenny Dunlop, User Experience Manager

"Graham brought a huge amount of expertise to this engagement, in many situations being the only voice of experience.  His proposals and suggestions are always backed with reason and almost always a comparative understanding of alternatives.  He became an essential member of the team, remaining resilient and focused throughout the meanderings of a complex project."
Head of Product Lifecycle, Telco

"I'm very impressed with how much you have put together! And thank you again for a superbly planned meeting last week. It would be great if you facilitated the next meetings as well!”
Business Analyst, Global Consumer Electronics Company

"Once again this has gone far beyond my expectations. Thanks again for outstanding work all-round."
Charles Fadel, Global Lead for Education, Cisco Systems

"You are damn fast at summarising and disseminating complex information."
Programme Director, MessageLabs Ltd

"Graham Oakes, a facilitator and business and technology consultant […acted] as a mentor and assisted in knowledge transfer through the provision of carefully designed workshops. These helped customer organisations frame the discussions between business and IT and encouraged them to understand that systems need to be addressed from a holistic perspective."
British Computer Society IT Consultant of the Year awards, 2003

“There was a very constructive spirit during the workshop and a clear sense of direction and priorities for the CRM project emerged.”
Fraser Woodburn, University Secretary, The Open University

stimonials

  "Very insightful. Extremely useful to focus on real causes of project failure. Resonated with my experience."
  "I really enjoyed this talk, Graham was a confident and engaging speaker with good slides."
  "A very experienced and engaging person. I could easily listen to Graham again."
Feedback from recent talk

"Graham's input added real value. He was able to advise not just on the technical but also on areas of business strategy. His deliverables were of high quality, focused and met our needs perfectly. He communicates in a way that both business and technical people can understand and helps cross the traditional divide between these two areas. "He's good isn't he!" was just one comment I received from my peers on the project, which I think sums it up nicely."
Andrew Hatton, Project Manager, Oxfam GB

"A really helpful piece of work which has illuminated a messy area of our business, and gives us the potential to make progress in a less piecemeal way."
Helen Niven, Head of Student Recruitment and Retention, The Open University

"Graham's clarity of thinking and focus in addition to his consultative manner and independence provide a very valuable mix that our organisation has benefited greatly from."
Tim Saxby, IS Assurance Manager, National Savings & Investments

“Graham is a passionate and unconventional thinker. His passion for quality and customer focus is complemented by his open nature and inclusive style of working.”
Darryl Feldman, Head of User Experience and Design, Yahoo Europe

“Graham was able to address the team at the right level and engage them. His knowledge of the domain was excellent; he brought a wider perspective centred on our capability and interests. ”
Debbie Lawther, Project Manager, transport authority

“It's been a pleasure working with you. Thanks for steadying our nerves and cleverly developing a formulation that both we and our customer should be able to sign up to.”
Head of Technical Architecture, Business Process Outsourcing organisation

“Once again you come to the rescue! Many thanks for your support which is immensely valuable to us.”
Cowan Coventry, CEO, Intermediate Technology Development Group