Direct Agility — Enterprise Transformation Partner

Purpose & direction

What drives the work

Vision

To help organisations create clarity, confidence, and sustainable delivery in an increasingly complex world.

Direct Agility exists to evolve how organisations think, lead, plan, and deliver — creating environments where people, strategy, governance, and execution work together rather than against each other.

Every organisation has more potential than it is currently realising. Helping unlock that is what this work is about.

Mission

To partner with leaders and organisations to simplify complexity, align strategy to delivery, and create measurable transformation outcomes.

In practice that means working across strategy, governance, leadership, and delivery at the same time. Not sequentially. Not in isolation. Together, because that is how organisations actually function.

No unnecessary complexity. No framework theatre. Just honest, practical transformation that works in the real world.

Goals

Clarity. Confidence. Sustainable delivery.

Create clarity

Cut through complexity. Align strategy with action. Make the path forward visible at every level.

Build confidence

Develop capability from the inside out. Leaders and teams who trust themselves to deliver.

Evolve ways of working

Design operating models and governance built for how organisations actually work — not how frameworks say they should.

Enable data-driven decisions

Give leaders an accurate picture of delivery health at any point, not just at the end of quarter when it is too late to act.

Clarity across complex organisations

Visibility, alignment, and confidence across strategy, delivery, governance, risk, and dependencies.

Delivery confidence & predictability

From reactive delivery to structured, measurable, outcome-focused execution.

Leadership & organisational behaviour

Healthier, more adaptive, collaborative, and accountable environments.

Sustainable ways of working

Operating models and governance that are scalable, realistic, and tailored to the organisation.

Data-driven transformation

Real-time visibility through meaningful metrics, delivery visualisation, and intelligent reporting.

What we do

Services built around
your organisation

We work across the full transformation picture. Strategy, governance, culture, tooling, delivery, leadership. Every engagement is shaped around where the organisation actually is, not where a framework assumes it should be.

01Enterprise Transformation

02Agile Transformation & Scaled Delivery

03Target Operating Model Design

04Portfolio Governance & Strategy Execution

05Programme Recovery & Turnaround

06Leadership Coaching & Development

07Culture & Behavioural Change

08Governance & Tooling Transformation

09EWoW Delivery

End-to-end · All sectors

Enterprise Transformation

We design and deliver large-scale organisational change from the ground up. Operating models, governance, ways of working, leadership capability. We work at board level and in delivery teams, often on the same day, because change that only lands at the top never lands at all. We stay until the organisation can run without us. That is the measure of success we care about.

SAFe · Scrum · Kanban · ICAgile

Agile Transformation & Scaled Delivery

We help organisations work in more adaptive, value-focused ways at scale. Our approach draws on SAFe, Scrum, Kanban, and Lean, but we are not wedded to any single framework. We hold some of the highest credentials available in this field (ICP-ENT, ICP-CAT, CAL co-creator UK) and we use them to build something that fits your context, not to sell you a standard package. Whether this is your first agile programme or you are trying to fix one that has stalled, we build it to last.

Organisational Design · Structure

Target Operating Model Design

Structure before process. Process before tooling. Most organisations do this in the wrong order and wonder why the tools do not stick. We help leaders design the structures, roles, and accountabilities their strategy actually needs, starting with an honest picture of where the organisation is now rather than where a framework thinks it should be.

LPM · OKRs · Big Room Planning

Portfolio Governance & Strategy Execution

Lean Portfolio Management, Big Room Planning, OKR design. The mechanics of connecting what the board decides to what teams deliver. We give leadership a live picture of delivery health, risk, and investment alignment rather than a quarterly report that is already out of date. Built around whatever planning tools you already have.

Complex · At-risk · Regulated

Programme Recovery & Turnaround

When a programme is in trouble, the stated problem is rarely the real one. We come in, find out what is actually happening, and build a credible path forward. We have recovered programmes across defence, NHS, financial services, and enterprise that others had given up on. It is not comfortable work. We do it anyway.

Executive · Senior Leadership · CMI

Leadership Coaching & Development

One-to-one coaching for senior leaders in the middle of difficult change. No programme structure, no competency framework. Just a thinking partner who has operated in complex delivery environments and knows what the pressure of leadership actually feels like. We also design and deliver leadership development for teams and functions when an organisation needs to build capability at scale.

Behavioural Change · Culture · People

Culture & Behavioural Change

Culture does not change because a leadership team decides it should. It changes when the behaviours that get people promoted, recognised, and protected start to shift. We work with organisations to understand what is actually driving their culture. The unwritten rules. The hidden incentives. The things that shape how people behave that nobody puts in a strategy document. Then we design change that works with that reality rather than pretending it does not exist.

Jira · Confluence · Azure DevOps · P6

Governance & Tooling Transformation

Most organisations already have the tools. What they are missing is a governance model that makes those tools work together, and someone who understands both the technology and the delivery environment well enough to join them up. We design and implement delivery ecosystems using Jira, BigPicture, Advanced Roadmaps, Confluence, Azure DevOps, and programme planning tools. We configure the workflows, build the architecture, and train the teams so the tooling reflects how the organisation actually works.

Proprietary Methodology · Tailored

EWoW Delivery

EWoW is the methodology we have built over twenty years of doing this work. It starts with a 30-60-90 discovery: an organisation-wide survey, face-to-face interviews at every level, and an honest assessment of the current state. Quick wins come first. The strategy comes from the evidence, not from a pre-written playbook. It draws on Agile, Lean, and traditional governance in whatever combination fits the organisation. The end result is change that your own people understand and can sustain after we have gone.

How we work

The EWoW 30-60-90

Every engagement starts with listening. Before we recommend anything, we need to understand how the organisation actually works. The 30-60-90 is our discovery and build process. A sequence, not a deadline.

Phase 01

Understand

An organisation-wide survey and face-to-face interviews at every level, not just the top. The survey gives us data. The conversations give us the truth. Together they produce an honest picture of the current state: what is working, what is not, and why things are the way they are.

Phase 02

Quick wins

We act on the things that do not need a strategy to fix. The meeting nobody needs. The report nobody reads. The sign-off step that doubles every decision timeline. Quick wins matter because they build trust, and trust is what makes the harder work possible.

Phase 03

Build the strategy

The transformation strategy comes from the evidence gathered in the first two phases. It is specific to this organisation and these challenges. It draws on Agile, Lean, and traditional governance in whatever combination fits. There is no standard version of it, because there is no standard organisation.

Client work

Selected engagements

All engagements are anonymised to protect client confidentiality.

Defence · Multi-programme · Land, Air & Sea

Delivering 24 months of programme scope in 18 across three simultaneous defence programmes

Three simultaneous defence programmes were operating without a shared view of progress, dependencies, or contractual milestones. Leadership had no reliable way to see across the programmes at once. Coordination across nations and functions was largely informal.

Built a multi-level governance structure, introduced quarterly Big Room Planning across all three programmes, and created a real-time delivery visualisation that gave leadership an accurate, live picture of programme health for the first time.

24→18

Months of scope

£3M

Cost savings

25%

Faster delivery

Enterprise Software · 40+ Teams · Multi-site

Unifying delivery across 40 teams without losing autonomy

A large enterprise software business was running forty-plus teams with no shared planning rhythm and no consistent way for leadership to see across them. Annual planning cycles meant decisions were already out of date before they reached delivery.

Designed and embedded a delivery operating model that worked across all teams without removing their autonomy. Moved from annual to quarterly planning and introduced OKRs that connected team work to strategic outcomes.

40+

Teams aligned

4→1

Planning cycles/year

30%

Predictability gain

Our methodology

EWoW is a transformation methodology developed by Sabrina C E Noto across twenty years of senior delivery work. It does not prescribe how organisations should operate. It starts with how they actually operate, and builds forward from there.

EWoW draws on traditional governance, Lean, and Agile in whatever combination the organisation needs. It works at team level and enterprise level. Because it is tailored to the organisation every time, no two implementations look the same.

Explore the full EWoW model →

Phase one

Listen and understand

An organisation-wide survey combined with face-to-face conversations at every level. The data tells us what is happening. The conversations tell us why. What comes out of it is an honest current-state picture that no internal report can produce on its own.

Phase two

Act on quick wins

Improvements that do not need a full strategy to act on. Quick wins release capacity and build credibility. Both are essential before the harder work begins.

Phase three

Build the strategy

The transformation strategy is built from the evidence. It is specific to this organisation, not copied from a playbook. It takes from every methodology available whatever actually fits, and the result is something the organisation's own people can own and keep going.

Evolved Ways of Working — EWoW

A complete transformation system — from strategic vision to daily team delivery. Click any tab to explore.

The EWoW delivery hierarchy connects strategic intent to team-level execution. Each level feeds the next — top-down direction, bottom-up visibility. Click any box for detail.

Strategic

Vision

The north star. Shared direction that gives meaning to every team's work.

Strategic goals & OKRs

Measurable outcomes linked directly to customer and contractual milestones.

Portfolio

Big Room Planning

Quarterly 1.5–2 day event. All teams. Commitment, visibility, risks.

Initiatives

Direction and milestones set by senior leads. Prioritisation of key activities.

Value stream mapping

Aligns structure around value delivery, not silos.

Programme

Epics

Breakdown of Initiatives. Owned by engineering leads. Key BRP output.

LPM & programme syncs

Bi-weekly cross-functional visibility on delivery, risk, dependencies.

Team

Stories & tasks

Daily delivery. Real-time Jira tracking. 15-min team syncs.

Team syncs

Psychological safety, accountability, collaboration. Agile or traditional.

Top-down → Vision → Initiatives → Epics → Stories ← Bottom-up visibility

Four pillars define the operating structure. Each has its own delivery and communication method. All four must work together — no pillar succeeds in isolation.

Leadership

Vision, strategic goals, board-level alignment

Programme planning

LPM, BRP, portfolio governance

Engineering delivery

Epics, engineering leads, work packages

Team delivery

Stories, tasks, daily syncs, Jira

Select a pillar above to see its responsibilities.

The EWoW coach works across all four pillars

Each pillar lead is the domain expert. The EWoW coach provides the connective tissue — ensuring methods, tools, and rhythms work across all four simultaneously.

The EWoW communication rhythm provides structured visibility at every level — from board to team. Each sync has a distinct purpose and audience.

Quarterly

Big Room Planning

1.5–2 day event. All teams + leadership + engineering. Sets Initiatives and Epics. Gathers blockers, risks, opportunities.

InitiativesEpics committedCross-team deps

Bi-weekly

Leadership LPM sync

Reviews delivery progress. Addresses issues and risks. Real-time visualisation fed bottom-up from team boards.

Delivery healthRisk escalationDecisions

Weekly

Engineering sync

Engineering and function leads. Progress in Jira. Blockers feed upward. Cross-function collaboration.

ProgressBlockersCross-function

Daily / 3x week

Team sync

15 minutes maximum. Progress, blockers, collaboration. Psychological safety and team accountability.

ProgressBlockersAccountability

Continuous

Real-time visualisation

Data flows bottom-up through team → engineering → leadership boards. One view of whole-programme health at any time.

Bottom-up dataLive view

The principle

"Data top-down, bottom-up in the day-to-day real-time. Traditional governance and evolved delivery — working together, not against each other."

EWoW uses two complementary tools — each with a distinct purpose. They are not integrated via API. They run in parallel, informing each other through structured process.

Programme Planning Tools

Your tools, working harder

Whether your organisation uses Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, or another planning tool, EWoW configures around what you already have. We don't replace your tooling. We make it work harder.

→Master schedule & critical path

→Business & customer milestones

→Estimated cost & FTE resource

→Schedule risk analysis & baseline

Managed by planning & project controls. Works alongside your existing programme governance — not against it.

Jira

Real-time delivery

Holds the issues teams need to perform over the quarter to achieve Initiatives and OKRs. Day-to-day delivery visualisation, task flow, and progress tracking.

→Real-time Epics & Stories tracking

→BigPicture for programme-level view

→Advanced Roadmaps for planning

→LPM Kanban board for leadership

Data flows bottom-up: team boards → engineering board → leadership LPM board.

Why we don't automatically integrate planning tools with Jira

Your programme planning tool and Jira serve different purposes at different cadences. Automating the link between them creates data conflicts and undermines both systems. The two run in parallel, informing each other through structured process — Big Room Planning, programme syncs, and regular schedule updates — not automation.

EWoW maps to the 6 Enablers of Business Agility — ensuring transformation covers the full organisational system, not just delivery processes.

Organisational culture

OKRs promote transparency and outcomes over outputs

Psychological safety built through team sync structure

Continuous improvement through retrospectives

Leadership & management

Leadership sync ensures alignment and intentional steering

Vision and goals set and communicated by leaders

Adaptive decisions enabled by real-time data

Organisational structure

Work package syncs coordinate across delivery structures

Value stream mapping aligns structure to value, not silos

Four-pillar model provides clear ownership at every level

People & engagement

Team syncs empower teams and foster psychological safety

Big Room Planning drives engagement and shared ownership

Agile, Kanban, or traditional, adapted to context

Governance & funding

OKRs tie funding decisions to outcomes, not projects

BRP aligns prioritisation and funding with value streams

Work package sync governs deliverables across horizons

Ways of working

Agile, Kanban, traditional: core to team-level delivery

Sync cadence supports continuous learning loops

Value stream mapping drives leaner ways of working

The team

The people behind the work

Sabrina C E Noto

Founder & Lead Consultant

Twenty years delivering transformation at board and delivery level across defence, NHS, financial services and enterprise. Creator of EWoW. Co-creator of Scrum Alliance Certified Agile Leadership UK. Available for Head of Transformation, Director of Transformation, and senior consulting engagements.

Full profile →

Belinda Prince

Enterprise Agile Coach & Consultant

Proven track record driving large-scale transformation across defence, finance, technology, and energy. Specialist in scaling agile, Lean Portfolio Management, and digital transformation — working hands-on with leadership and teams to turn strategy into action.

🐾

Izzabella & Annabella

Chief Barketing Officers

Two miniature dachshunds with strong opinions about everything and absolutely no interest in governance frameworks. Essential to morale. Non-negotiable members of the Direct Agility operation.

What clients say

Recommendations

Sabrina has been an amazing leader in agile transformation, always prioritising customer needs and team inclusivity. Her flexibility and willingness to adapt have driven exceptional outcomes, building a collaborative environment where everyone's skills shine.

Rachel Penfold

Agile Practitioner — Defence sector

If you're looking for an empathetic coach who truly understands technology and delivery at scale, Sabrina is your go-to. She excels in coaching everyone from executives to team members, making her the ideal partner for any serious transformation.

Keith Williams

Director — Enterprise Software

With her encyclopedic knowledge and real-world experience, Sabrina stands out as the most capable transformation leader I have worked with. Her collaborative, patient, and practical approach helps teams achieve results even in the most challenging environments.

Colin Lacey

Head of Product Management — Enterprise Software

Sabrina is like a photon — dynamic, impactful, and able to connect at every level. Her leadership, technical understanding, and human touch made her indispensable. An inspiring force who genuinely appreciates the people around her.

Mahesh Krishnamoorthy

Senior Leader — Retail sector

Clarity Through
Complexity.

Transformation that starts where you actually are

What drives the work

Services built around
your organisation

Enterprise Transformation

Agile Transformation & Scaled Delivery

Target Operating Model Design

Portfolio Governance & Strategy Execution

Programme Recovery & Turnaround

Leadership Coaching & Development

Culture & Behavioural Change

Governance & Tooling Transformation

EWoW Delivery

The EWoW 30-60-90

Selected engagements

Delivering 24 months of programme scope in 18 across three simultaneous defence programmes

Unifying delivery across 40 teams without losing autonomy

The people behind the work

Recommendations

Latest thinking

Let's talk about your programme

Clarity Through Complexity.

Transformation that starts where you actually are

What drives the work

Services built aroundyour organisation

Enterprise Transformation

Agile Transformation & Scaled Delivery

Target Operating Model Design

Portfolio Governance & Strategy Execution

Programme Recovery & Turnaround

Leadership Coaching & Development

Culture & Behavioural Change

Governance & Tooling Transformation

EWoW Delivery

The EWoW 30-60-90

Selected engagements

Delivering 24 months of programme scope in 18 across three simultaneous defence programmes

Unifying delivery across 40 teams without losing autonomy

The people behind the work

Recommendations

Latest thinking

Let's talk about your programme

Clarity Through
Complexity.

Services built around
your organisation