Reference · Programme leadership
Programme leadership within Hyperion's engagements
Programme leadership coordinates one defined programme across teams and suppliers. A review assesses its position and recommends decisions; a mission or an interim mandate carries responsibility for the agreed planning, coordination, escalation and handover.
It is not a separate offer, a project-management office or a reporting service. Choose the existing engagement by the responsibility the programme needs now: a Product Decision Review to assess it, a Product Leadership Mission to lead it to an agreed milestone, or Executive Product Leadership for an Interim Programme Director mandate. Each is scoped and quoted individually.
- Programme health review
- Programme recovery or launch mission
- Interim Programme Director
When a programme review is worth considering.
These are signals, not diagnoses. A review establishes what is actually happening before anyone commits to a recovery.
A milestone keeps moving while status reports stay green.
A review tests whether the cross-team critical path, and the evidence behind each gate reported as closed, have a named owner.
Hardware, software, data and supplier plans do not meet.
Each stream may have its own plan. The review looks at the dependencies between them and at when they are resolved.
A launch date is committed before readiness evidence is agreed.
The review checks which sales, installation, support and operations criteria are written down, and who accepts them.
Programme decisions have no named owner between steering meetings.
This can follow a departure or a role that was never filled. The mandate question is who decides what, and by when.
Choose the engagement by the responsibility needed.
Product Decision Review
Programme health review
One question: can this programme still reach its committed milestone, and what would have to change? Scoped as a Product Decision Review for one programme decision; additional sites or workstreams are scoped separately.
- Deliverables
- An assessment of the critical path, dependencies, risks and decision rights; a recommendation to continue, revise or stop the programme, with unresolved disagreements and the conditions for revisiting it; and proposed next actions for approval by a named client owner.
- Boundary
- Hyperion investigates and recommends; the client decides. The review is not a financial audit, a personnel assessment or a certification.
Product Leadership Mission
Programme recovery or launch mission
Lead one programme towards an agreed milestone, within written decision rights: establish the programme's actual position, agree the plan with the teams who deliver it, run decision and dependency reviews, coordinate supplier interfaces and prepare the evidence for the client's acceptance decision.
- Deliverables
- The milestone evidence and recommendation, including any unresolved acceptance criteria; the agreed programme plan; decision and risk records; and the operating documentation named in the mandate.
- Boundary
- Client delivery teams and specialist authorities remain necessary. No date, launch or outcome is guaranteed.
Executive Product Leadership
Interim Programme Director
A full-time Interim Programme Director assignment is available for an agreed term of six to twelve months. Responsibilities include programme planning, steering-committee reporting, cross-functional and supplier coordination, escalation, and preparation for handover to a client-designated successor.
- Deliverables
- The agreed programme plan, decision and risk history, meeting and review schedule, outstanding commitments and handover documentation, handed over to the successor the client designates.
- Boundary
- Budgets, employment decisions, contractual commitments and specialist sign-offs remain with the client. The mandate is written, with an end date or a checkpoint.
Written mandate
What is agreed before work starts.
- Authority
- For a mission or an interim assignment, the written mandate names the client sponsor, the delegated decisions, the reserved approvals, the escalation route and who accepts the milestone. Hyperion maintains the agreed programme records and coordinates delivery; the client retains budgets, employment decisions, contractual commitments and specialist sign-offs.
- Access
- The scope names the access required to programme records, delivery evidence, team leads and relevant suppliers. Any limit on that access is recorded before conclusions or delivery commitments are agreed.
- Starting position
- A recovery commitment is made only after the programme's actual position has been established from its own records and evidence.
- Delivery and capacity
- Mohammed Cherifi personally delivers these engagements. A full-time interim assignment occupies his delivery capacity; he does not accept other delivery mandates for the same period. Start dates are agreed around existing commitments.
Boundary
What programme leadership does not include
- A project-management office, schedule administration or reporting-only coverage
- Delivery staffing or individual-contributor capacity
- Legal advice, certification or conformity assessment
- Safety or technical sign-off delegated away from accountable specialists
- Client budgets, supplier contracts or employment decisions
- Guaranteed dates, launches or outcomes
Who delivers
The founder's programme background
- Senior Program Manager at Cisco, October 2015 – August 2018
- At the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, Mohammed held the programme-management portfolio for Connected Car Services and for the Mitsubishi cross-badge models based on Renault vehicles
- Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) and Certified Agile Leader (CAL), held since September 2017
Direct answers before a conversation.
Is programme leadership a fourth Hyperion offer?
No. Hyperion sells three engagements. This page describes how each one is scoped when its object is a programme rather than a single product decision.
Is this a PMO or a programme-management staffing service?
No. Hyperion does not supply a project-management office, planners or reporting capacity. If the need is primarily schedule administration, this is not the right engagement.
How does an Interim Programme Director differ from an Interim Head of Product?
An Interim Head of Product leads the product function. An Interim Programme Director leads a defined programme across functions and suppliers, within delegated authority. These are distinct mandates.
Which delivery method is used?
The delivery approach is agreed with the client around integration milestones, supplier dependencies, required approvals and existing team practices. Decision rights are specified in the mandate.
Can an interim assignment run alongside another Hyperion engagement?
No. A full-time interim assignment occupies the founder's delivery capacity for its term. Other engagements are scheduled before or after it.
What does it cost?
Each engagement is scoped and quoted individually. Scope and fees are agreed in writing before work starts.
Bring the programme as it stands, not a polished brief.
Tell me what you want to achieve, what is blocking progress and when you need help. A few sentences are enough.