Al Karakas
Programme recovery / London

I recover failingtechnologyprogrammes.

The programme looks busy. Commits, updates, slide decks. But the client can feel that something has stopped. I find out what inside 72 hours — then fix only what needs fixing.

AVAILABLE NOW · CONTRACT, INTERIM OR PERMANENT
Book a 15-minute call
£5.9m
Recovered / stabilised
7
Recovery engagements
72h
Diagnosis window
£2m
Extensions won

Featured recovery

The client had already written the termination deck.

Situation

AI and data platform. £350k contract. I took it over two months in. The client had assembled a 20-page deck documenting every shortfall and formally requesting termination. They had expected around 40 days of delivered output. They had received roughly five.

Found

Diagnosed the root causes in two to three days. No backlog with acceptance criteria. No Definition of Done. No sprint structure or reporting cadence the client could trust.

Did

Built the backlog from scratch with the tech leads, establishing acceptance criteria and a Definition of Done for every item. Produced a sprint roadmap with milestones the client could track week by week. Reinstated a reporting cadence, then absorbed two full client pivots without losing budget discipline.

Outcome

Delivered a working proof of concept within one month of taking over. The engagement continued. The client's confidence in the programme improved once I was in the role.

See all seven recoveries →

What I build

Three products built and shipped on my own. Not demos that stalled at MVP — working systems running in production now. I do this to keep the technical judgement honest.

Aplio

Live in beta
aplioai.com

AI-native job search intelligence. Six agents, an evidence bank, zero fabrication. A personal job search tool that refuses to make things up.

It flags gaps instead of papering over them. If a job requirement has no matching evidence, it says so. Most tools optimise for volume. This one is built on the opposite premise.

pmly

Early access
pmly.app

A professional governance system for PM contractors. Three agents: Assistant, Challenger, Coach. Anti-sycophancy AI that tells you when you are wrong.

The Challenger is built to disagree with you. When a RAID entry is weak or a decision doesn't hold, it keeps saying so until the substance is addressed.

Tally

Private beta
mytally.co.uk

A renovation cost tracker for couples. Budget, wishlist, and receipts in one place, so the numbers stay honest and both people are looking at the same reality.

Built for a real renovation. My wife and I used it to gut and rebuild our first home in London. Every feature exists because we needed it that week.

What people say

His stakeholder management is among the best I've seen. He builds trust quickly, manages expectations honestly, and navigates difficult conversations with a directness that people respect rather than resist.
Carl Brindle · Technical Lead
His project delivery track record speaks for itself: timelines met, stakeholders aligned, risks controlled, and customers genuinely impressed.
Frank Pickering · Account Executive

Writing

Essays on delivery, straight to your inbox.

New writing on programme recovery, AI governance, and building production software with AI. Occasional. No noise.

Ready to talk?

15 minutes. I will tell you whether I can help and what that would look like.

Book a 15-minute call