The holidays are a natural pause point. Before charging into Q1, it’s worth taking a step back—not just to celebrate wins but to reflect on lessons learned, team dynamics, and what kind of leader you want to be next year.
Assess your leadership: Did you grow this year? Delegate more? Communicate better? Drop the ball somewhere?
Team wins and resilience: Recognize the people who made success possible—especially in the hard months.
Culture check: Does your culture still match your mission? Or did habits shift under pressure?
Make space for gratitude: Send a note. Say thank you. Handwritten still beats typed.
Look ahead: What’s one thing you’ll do differently as a leader next year?
Leadership isn’t just about planning; it’s about being present. And the holiday season gives us a rare moment to do both.
If you’re building enterprise software and expecting to “set it and forget it,” you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
The truth? Great software is never really done.
Why Software Needs Ongoing Investment
The market shifts. Your users shift. Even your business goals evolve. What worked when the app launched may no longer serve the needs of the business a year—or even six months—later.
Some of the key drivers for continued evolution:
New business processes require new features.
Security patches and updates are non-negotiable.
User expectations continue to rise with every new consumer-grade app.
Integrations with other platforms and tools constantly change.
AI and modern tools open up new efficiencies worth integrating.
Your software is part of your business DNA. If your business is growing, your software needs to grow with it.
How Smart Organizations Handle This
At Intertech, we encourage our clients to think beyond the launch and embrace a software lifecycle mindset. That means planning for:
Ongoing enhancements based on real user feedback.
Quarterly technical reviews to keep the stack modern and maintainable.
Regular backlog grooming to keep priorities aligned.
Performance monitoring and scalability checks as usage grows.
And when AI is part of the conversation (as it increasingly is), we look at how to continuously tune models, prompts, or workflows to maximize value.
A Better Way to Budget
Instead of a one-time capex mentality, shift to a continuous value delivery model. Allocate budget for ongoing improvements the same way you do for marketing or operations.
Small investments over time prevent the kind of big, scary rebuilds that happen when software is neglected for too long.
Keep Software Aligned with Business Goals
Software should never be a sunk cost—it should be a strategic asset that adapts with your business. The most successful companies treat it that way.
If your software is starting to feel like a bottleneck instead of a business enabler, it may be time to revisit your roadmap. And if you’re not sure where to start, that’s exactly where we can help.
Missed deadlines aren’t just inconvenient—they’re costly. For CIOs and business leaders, schedule slippage can damage credibility, shake client confidence, and jeopardize long-term goals. But the truth is, delays happen—even on well-run projects.
What matters is how you respond.
Why Deadlines Slip (Even When You Plan Carefully)
Most software delays aren’t caused by laziness or lack of effort. They’re the result of one or more of the following:
Scope creep disguised as “small changes”
Underestimated complexity, especially with integrations
Lack of early discovery to uncover hidden requirements
Unrealistic expectations set during sales or kickoff
Poor communication between stakeholders and devs
At Intertech, we’ve seen it all—and helped fix it all. That’s why we start every engagement with a rigorous discovery phase, use daily huddles to maintain visibility, and communicate early if anything veers off-track.
What To Do When a Deadline is at Risk
Here’s a battle-tested, leadership-level playbook for when you suspect a delivery date may be slipping:
Acknowledge the reality. Ignoring it doesn’t make it better. Have a frank internal conversation to determine the root cause.
Communicate with clients early. Clients don’t like bad news—but they really hate surprises. Tell them what’s happening, why, and how you’re adjusting.
Re-baseline with clear next steps. Adjust your timeline, prioritize the must-haves, and ensure every stakeholder is aligned.
Audit your process. Did something break in discovery? Were stories not sized right? Use the moment to tighten your delivery pipeline.
Take care of the team. Pressure to “catch up” can burn out your developers. Sustainable pace > heroic sprints.
Turning the Ship Around
A missed deadline doesn’t mean a failed project. It’s a signal. If handled well, it can reset expectations, realign teams, and even deepen client trust through transparency.
Our consulting approach is built around this philosophy. We stay flexible, keep communication open, and help our clients course correct fast—because we’ve done it before.
As Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself reflecting not just on what I’m grateful for personally—but on how gratitude shapes how I lead professionally. Running a business like Intertech has taught me a lot over the years, but one lesson stands out again and again: how you treat your people determines your success.
Gratitude Isn’t Just Personal—It’s Strategic
It’s easy to think of gratitude as a soft skill—something reserved for handwritten notes and holiday cards. But in leadership, gratitude is a strategy. It builds trust, improves retention, and fuels a culture where people are willing to go the extra mile.
I’m thankful every day for the people who show up—virtually or in person—at Intertech. The developers who write elegant code. The project managers who juggle chaos with grace. The operations and sales teams who keep the business humming. These aren’t just employees—they’re the reason we continue to grow and evolve, especially as we embrace AI and modern development tools.
Taking Care of the People Who Take Care of the Business
This time of year, it’s easy to default to year-end metrics and planning for Q1. But leadership isn’t just about goals and growth. It’s about creating an environment where people can thrive.
At Intertech, that’s why we:
Hold daily huddles to keep everyone connected
Make space for social events—from BBQs to poker nights
Invest in internal training to ensure learning never stops
And yes, pause to say “thank you” more than once a year
A Simple Thanksgiving Leadership Challenge
Here’s something I’d encourage every business leader to do this week: make a list of the 5 people at work you’re most thankful for. Then tell them. Be specific. Tell them what they did, how it helped, and what it meant to you or the company.
You’d be surprised how powerful that one moment of recognition can be—for them and for you.
Final Thought
Thanksgiving reminds us to slow down and appreciate what we have. For leaders, that means appreciating the people who make our vision a reality. The best cultures aren’t built by perks or policies—they’re built on trust, recognition, and care.
Ask any experienced software consultant where most projects go wrong, and they’ll often tell you: right at the start.
Before a single line of code is written, the foundation is laid during pre-project discovery—a stage too many companies rush or ignore altogether. At Intertech, we’ve learned that skipping this phase is like building a house without a blueprint. The walls might go up, but don’t be surprised when they don’t line up.
What Is Pre-Project Discovery?
Pre-project discovery is the structured, upfront process where stakeholders, developers, and project managers come together to:
Define goals and outcomes
Clarify business problems
Assess technical environments
Identify constraints and risks
Align expectations
It’s part roadmap, part risk mitigation, and all about setting your project up for success.
Why It Matters
Avoids Scope Creep When discovery is done right, everyone agrees on what success looks like—and just as importantly, what’s not in scope.
Uncovers Hidden Complexity Discovery often reveals legacy system dependencies, security concerns, or workflow challenges that would otherwise pop up mid-project (i.e., at the worst possible time).
Aligns Business & Technical Teams It creates a shared understanding between business leaders and developers, reducing the “translation errors” that derail progress later.
Builds Trust Early A transparent discovery process builds confidence with stakeholders and gives them a chance to see how your team thinks and solves problems.
How We Do It at Intertech
We treat discovery like an essential part of the engagement—not an optional add-on. Here’s what we include:
Workshops with key stakeholders to align vision and goals
Technical deep dives into current architecture and systems
Risk and readiness assessments to avoid surprises
Project roadmap creation with realistic timeframes and resources
This phase pays for itself many times over by reducing rework, increasing clarity, and helping the real work move faster.
A Better Beginning Means a Better Ending
If your last project hit delays or missed the mark, look at how it started. And next time? Don’t just jump in.
