IT Team Capability Assessment
Financial Services
Context
A newly appointed department head needed to know whether the existing IT team and technical architecture could support the department's objectives, or whether a different direction was required. Internal assessments had produced unclear answers.
Engagement
We conducted a technical assessment over one week, working alongside the IT team. We reviewed code repositories, examined architectural decisions in the codebase, and observed how production incidents and deployments were handled. We assessed team practices and technical workflows through paired working sessions.
Findings
Our assessment provided a clear picture of actual capabilities versus stated capabilities. We identified a significant gap between documented experience levels and the quality of technical decisions reflected in the codebase, an application that had become artificially complex and expensive to look impressive on resumes, and a team dynamic where raising concerns had become culturally discouraged.
Outcome
The client was able to make informed decisions about the IT team’s future with confidence in the underlying facts. Subsequent changes resulted in quick and significant performance improvement.