Program Management / Case study
$3M OTT Digital Transformation Programme
Led a $3M programme launching Pakistan's first licensed OTT platform, 5 tech workstreams (iOS, Android, web, CMS, CDN), 25-person team, 8 international vendors, PMBOK + Agile hybrid governance.
The operating decision, in context.
Built the PMO from scratch and ran governance for Pakistan's first licensed OTT platform, risk register, RAID logs, milestone tracking, SteerCo reporting and stage-gated capital project delivery, landed on schedule across 5 technology workstreams.
Evidence overview
What changed, and why it held.
Operator lensFirst-of-kind regulated launches do not survive a pure-Agile PMO, capital workstreams need stage gates with auditable evidence.
The job to be done.
A first-of-its-kind regulated OTT launch in Pakistan: no internal PMO, 8 international vendors with different delivery cultures, 5 parallel technology workstreams, content-rights obligations, and a regulator-facing launch deadline with no slip room.
What I built.
- PMO operating model, risk register, RAID logs, decision logs, milestone tracking
- PMBOK-based stage gates for capital project workstreams (CDN, CMS infrastructure)
- Agile delivery cadence for iOS, Android and web product workstreams
- Vendor governance: SLAs, escalation paths, joint planning ceremonies
- SteerCo with monthly stakeholder reporting; weekly programme reviews
- Content-rights and regulator-facing compliance tracking
How it fits together.
- Programme broken into 5 workstreams with named workstream leads + RACI
- RAID register as the single source of truth, no parallel risk lists
- Stage gates between vendor procurement → integration → UAT → launch
- Joint vendor war room for the final 6 weeks before launch
Where I sat in the work.
Head of Project and Product at an OTT streaming platform. Led program delivery and PMO governance, including stakeholder management, vendor relationships, risk posture and launch readiness end-to-end.
What moved.
- Delivered Pakistan's first licensed OTT platform on schedule
- Held 5 technology workstreams to a single launch milestone with zero workstream slip
- Built a PMO playbook the company continued to use after launch
- Established agile delivery practices across the 25-person product and engineering team
What I chose against.
- Hybrid PMBOK + Agile model added overhead, accepted because the regulator-facing capital workstreams needed gate evidence
- Centralised vendor escalations through PMO, slowed minor decisions, prevented vendor-on-vendor finger-pointing
What carries into the next build.
- First-of-kind regulated launches do not survive a pure-Agile PMO, capital workstreams need stage gates with auditable evidence.
- Vendor governance is the highest-leverage PMO surface. Joint rituals beat written SLAs every time.
- RAID is only useful if every entry has an owner, a date and a decision path. Otherwise it is a log, not a register.
Relevant beyond this one platform.
The transferable core: a PMO that carries capital workstreams, vendor stacks, regulator-facing launch dates and hybrid governance to a fixed launch. Banks, regulated fintechs and central-bank-licensed platforms all run programmes shaped exactly like this; only the logo changes.
Bring the context
Building through
real operating pressure?
Start with the decision, constraint or delivery problem in front of you. We can work out whether there is a useful fit.