About PM Guidance
Software projects drive how organizations improve. They have been for decades. The technology has come a long way, and so have the implementation approaches. What hasn't kept up are the success rates. Across industries, these projects still fall short more often than they should, creating stress and frustration along the way.
Some of that is the nature of the work. Projects create something that hasn't existed before, and that comes with uncertainty. But many of the recurring problems are avoidable. They're well-known, yet they persist.
PM Guidance exists to address this. We focus on one specific group: Project and Delivery Managers at software vendors.
Why Software Vendor Project Managers?
Vendor PMs are dear to my heart. I have been in that position for many years. I care about these people and I relate to what they go through.
On the practical side, vendor PMs hold a central position in complex implementations. This is their core profession and they are in a position to genuinely influence success.
They also carry sustained pressure that rarely gets recognized. They're accountable for outcomes while having limited authority over the factors that determine those outcomes. They're the visible face of delivery. When things go wrong, they receive disproportionate blame. When things go well, success gets attributed elsewhere. This leads to burnout and people leaving the role. Successful PMs, on the other hand, get promoted out. The result is lost seniority in a position that benefits enormously from experience and continuity.
The gap we address
Successful delivery requires two things working together. A structured approach to project planning and execution. And skill in working with a complex human system of people who bring different backgrounds, incentives, and agendas.
The first part, structure and methodology, is well covered. Certifications, training programs, frameworks. We call this the science of project management. It provides the necessary foundation.
The second part, the people side, has been structurally underestimated. The industry has responded to project failures by refining methodologies and adding controls. This strengthens the science, but often at the expense of attention to the human layer through which delivery actually happens.
In my experience, this imbalance is a significant reason why project success rates haven't improved much despite better methodologies.
What We Focus On
PM Guidance develops the people skills that matter in vendor-led software delivery. Specifically: how to apply them in the reality of SaaS implementations with enterprise clients, and how to integrate them with your existing PM methodology and training.
The result is a more complete professional capability where structure and human skill reinforce each other.
Negotiate
Finding workable outcomes when interests, priorities, or expectations don't align. In vendor-client delivery, competing needs are part of the structure. Negotiation is a daily reality.
Influence
Operating effectively without formal authority, with the people who determine outcomes. Reading incentives, understanding power structures, and maintaining credibility across organizations.
ClarityĀ
Creating genuine shared understanding across the people involved. It operates on two layers: emotional clarity, recognizing your own patterns and reactions. And mental clarity, thinking with precision when pressure is high.
Care
Doing what it takes, when it needs doing. A deliberate practice, not a feeling. Addressing problems early, naming risks, engaging resistant stakeholders, protecting your team, and being honest about constraints.
What led to PM Guidance
Over the years, I noticed a pattern. Projects would be delivered successfully, yet the lasting improvements those organizations were after often didn't materialize. I wanted to understand what was causing that disconnect.
I found clear answers in the field of personal development. I applied those principles to organizational improvement and wrote a book about it, "Change Your Mind Change Your Business," covering principles for co-creating organizational change.
That path led me to PM Guidance. Here I have integrated my experience as coach, project director, and change manager to work with vendor PMs on the people side of their delivery. Influencing, negotiation, creating clarity, applying care, and building the relationships projects depend on.
I'mĀ Paul
Ā
I'm Paul Brand, born in the Netherlands, founder of PM Guidance. I have 25+ years of experience in global software-driven improvement projects. On the vendor side, managing delivery. On the customer side, achieving the business improvement that software enables. I've been in the same seat you're in, and on the receiving end of what you do.
After 5 years in the USA, I now live in Portugal with my wife and our two teenage children. From here I work with clients around the globe.
Beyond work
I love variety. I love new. The differences in people, culture, food, music is what I crave. It is a source of learning. Diversity broadens my awareness and understanding.
I'm addicted to golf. Playing, at times teaching and pursuing improvement. It takes me to beautiful places and has brought me enriching friendships. Golf provides my arena for peace and reflection.
How I got here.
Ā
I jokingly say that I don't have a career. There has been very little planning when it comes to my professional journey. I pursue what appeals to me and am thankful for where it has led.
I grew up on a horticultural farm in the Netherlands. Physical work, great fun, healthy competition. Although my work ended up in corporate environments, many of the views I apply today originate from those early experiences. A telling one: I prefer to let the results speak, rather than speaking about the results.
An internship in the USA during university changed me significantly. I realized I had an eye for improvement and how to accomplish it. After returning to the Netherlands, I started my first professional role with Shell as a Project Manager, implementing a new SAP module. In that role it became clear: if I wanted to be in the business of improvement, technology would play a significant part.
I enjoyed my time with Shell but after a year decided to join my brother to found an e-learning business, which we sold after a decade. One of our most successful courses was Prince2 foundations. I quickly learned, though, that I needed the energy of people around me and was drawn back to the corporate world. So I launched a consulting firm providing project delivery services.
For over 25 years I consulted a wide variety of corporations throughout Europe, the United States, and Australia. Delivering improvements through projects. The projects grew. The issues I experienced pretty much stayed the same.
How we work!
PM Guidance trains and coaches professionals operating in complex delivery environments. We don't take ownership of your projects or assume responsibility for outcomes. That responsibility remains where it belongs: with you.
We assume the professionals we work with are capable and trained in formal project disciplines. The challenge is integrating that foundation with a clear understanding of the human system through which delivery happens.
For most people, the starting point is our written material, programs, and structured learning. This allows you to build understanding at your own pace and apply insights within your own context. When it makes sense, engagement deepens into coaching or advisory work. That progression is never forced. It emerges when readiness and intent are present.
We assume the professionals we work with are capable and trained in formal project disciplines. The challenge is integrating that training with clear understanding of the human system where delivery happens. That is where we live.
For most professionals, the starting point is our written material, programs, and structured learning. These aren't introductory artifacts. They are core offerings that allow PMs to build understanding at their own pace and apply insights within their own context. When appropriate, engagement deepens into coaching or advisory work.
