City of London Corporation · Operating Model Design · Digital Operations · Governance
Hybrid Digital Delivery Workflow
Client: City of london corporation
Year: 2026
Role: Workflow Architecture, Operating Model Design, Governance & Team Enablement
Challenge / Context
Shadow Agile was created to address an operational problem rather than a technology problem.
Digital work was being delivered, but the system around that delivery had developed informally. Requests could enter through several channels, priority and sequencing were not consistently visible, ownership could be assumed rather than recorded, and support issues were handled inconsistently.
I identified the need for a coherent delivery model, designed the workflow and governance approach and created the request, guidance, tracking and support artefacts required to make it usable in practice.
The Approach
A hybrid approach
The operating model combined selected practices to match the realities of delivery, governance and support.
The resulting lifecycle covered:
request → structured intake → governance and prioritisation → delivery → approval and release → live support → review
Underneath that flow sat the practical infrastructure required to make it repeatable: Microsoft Planner, a SharePoint Course Tracker, designer and SME guidance, governance forms, support records and SAP/LMS information.
The point was not to introduce another tool. It was to create a shared operating system across tools, decisions and people.
Delivery Lifecycle
The model established a consistent intake route, explicit ownership, clearer review points and a documented route for support after release.
Mandatory or regulated work could trigger additional challenge and approval before entering delivery, while material late changes could be re-scoped rather than simply absorbed.
This kept the model flexible enough for small tasks while providing more explicit structure for larger or higher-risk work.
Adoption and value
Shadow Agile was used by the four-person Digital Team, including an apprentice, and elements were later adapted for wider L&OD use, including trainer workflows.
Its value was therefore not an unsupported claim of quantified productivity improvement. It was the creation of shared visibility, clearer ownership, repeatable governance, better operational continuity and reusable guidance.
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