Stop the Software Waste. Reclaim Your Business Agility.
For Executives in Energy, Healthcare, Law Firms & Private Equity
Transform your teams from a bottleneck to a business accelerator. Visualize your workflow, manage flow, and continuously improve delivery predictability while reducing your Cost of Delay.
SERVICES
Flow-Based Software Delivery Optimization
Visualize Work. Manage Flow. Improve Continuously.
A workflow-driven transformation service for software teams in knowledge work environments
Helping Organizations Achieve Predictable Flow, Before Technical Debt Becomes Unmanageable
Software teams don't fail because of lack of effort, they fail because they lack workflow visibility and flow management before they exhaust their runway.
If you're managing software delivery in Healthcare, Manufacturing, Insurance, or Law, our flow-based approach helps you visualize bottlenecks, manage work-in-progress limits, and continuously improve your delivery system for predictable outcomes.
What is your "Cost of Delay"?
It's the economic impact of not delivering a feature or project sooner. The revenue lost, market share ceded to competitors, ongoing operational costs, and missed strategic opportunities due to sluggish software delivery.
Innovations Ahead helps you quantify this often-invisible cost and systematically reduce it through proven flow management techniques.
Is Your Software Organization a Hidden Drain on Your Business?
You're a CTO in a non-software industry. Your focus is on leveraging technology to drive your core business, not wrestling with software development inefficiencies.
Projects consistently missing deadlines?
Battling unrealistic timelines and changing requirements, leading to rushed work and delayed value.
Endless technical debt?
Every new feature feels like patching an old wound, a result of inefficient requirements and compromised quality.
Struggling to retain top talent?
Your best engineers are burning out on re-work, battling inefficient processes, and constant customer complaints.
Software misaligned with business goals?
Running out of cash while communication gaps prevent software from delivering on critical objectives.
The Flow Management Method for Predictable Software Delivery
We implement proven flow management principles specifically for your industry, focusing on workflow visualization, active flow management, and continuous improvement to eliminate waste and optimize value delivery.
Define and Visualize the Workflow
- Create Definition of Workflow (DoW) with work item definitions and flow states
- Establish started and finished points for all work items in your context
- Define explicit policies for how work items flow through each state
- Implement Service Level Expectations (SLE) with time periods and probabilities
- Create Kanban board visualization making all workflow elements transparent
Actively Manage Items in Workflow
- Control Work in Progress (WIP) from started to finished states
- Implement pull system where work is selected only when capacity allows
- Actively manage work item age using SLE as reference for timely delivery
- Establish regular review cycles for active items and blocked work resolution
- Track mandatory flow metrics: WIP, Throughput, Work Item Age, and Cycle Time
Continuously Improve the Workflow
- Balance effectiveness, efficiency, and predictability through continuous study
- Make just-in-time alterations to DoW as context and needs evolve
- Use flow metrics to inform data-driven decisions about value delivery
- Implement both incremental and significant workflow improvements as needed
- Connect multiple DoWs across teams and organizational levels for value realization
About Innovations Ahead
A Passion for Eliminating Waste
At Innovations Ahead, we are passionate about helping our clients identify and eliminate waste from their processes.
Waste is anything that does not add value to the customer. It can be tangible, such as excess inventory or defects, or intangible, such as delays or unnecessary steps. By eliminating waste, we can help our clients improve their efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.
We use a variety of lean and agile methods to identify and eliminate waste, including Kanban, Kaizen, and PDCA. We also use a variety of software development and collaboration tools to help our clients visualize and track their work, such as Atlassian Jira, Atlassian Confluence, GitHub, Trello, Google Workspace, Asana, and Slack.
Our Golden Circle - Start with Why
We Believe
- • In reducing waste, tangible and intangible
- • In starting small to learn sooner
- • In predictability
Our Method
The way we reduce waste is by visualizing, managing, and improving workflow
Our Offering
We just happen to have a network of amazing coaches. Want to hire us?
About John Leone
As the founder and leader of Innovations Ahead, John Leone builds happy teams, because happy teams build better products. He collaborates with a trusted network of expert coaches and trainers who bring deep expertise in agile, artificial intelligence (AI), lean, technical disciplines, and human behavior, working together to deliver tailored solutions that help organizations thrive in today's fast-changing landscape.
With over 24 years of cross-industry experience and deep expertise in a wide range of tools and methodologies, John has a proven track record of improving organizational performance by reducing chaos, enhancing collaboration, and challenging the status quo. His core strengths include coaching, mentoring, teaching, and facilitating. John holds certifications such as ICP-ACC and ICP-ATF, and applies these skills to help teams navigate complex software delivery challenges. His approach blends proven flow practices with tailored strategies for industries like Energy, Healthcare, Law Firms & Private Equity, resulting in greater structure, speed, and clarity to every engagement.
Our Commitment to Your Success
Culture of Continuous Improvement
We believe that everyone has a role to play in eliminating waste. We work with our clients to create a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone is empowered to identify and eliminate waste.
Customized Solutions & Support
We are committed to helping our clients achieve their goals. We work with them to understand their needs and develop customized solutions that meet their specific requirements. We offer training, coaching, and mentoring to help implement and sustain improvements.
What Our Clients Say
See how we've helped organizations transform their software delivery and reduce their Cost of Delay.
"Innovations Ahead helped us tackle a major shipping and logistics issue in our cross-border operations. Their team brought a continuous improvement mindset, applying Kaizen principles and Lean-Agile values to identify and implement practical changes. The results were remarkable, we saw a 79% reduction in waste at U.S. ports and saved $250,000. Their approach was thoughtful, data-driven, and effective."
"Across some of our most complex and fast-moving initiatives, including work with Delaware North, ACV Auctions, AireXpert, TriNet, and Red-Inc - we needed a partner who could bring clarity, structure, and momentum. Together, we launched ten startups and led delivery on three high-value projects totaling $155M in valuation, one of which went on to achieve unicorn status. Innovations Ahead's ability to align teams and streamline execution continues to make a measurable impact across our portfolio."
"Working with Innovations Ahead helped us uncover the disconnect between leadership and frontline teams that had been holding us back. Through value stream mapping and targeted retrospectives, they brought transparency to our work, surfaced team frustrations, and helped leadership respond with real solutions. Their approach clarified our priorities, improved morale, and strengthened collaboration across the board. We're now more focused, aligned, and delivering with greater purpose."
Founder, Mid-Market Supply Chain & Reverse Logistics