I'm Stuart Corrigan. I show operations leaders why headcount, overtime and new software never clear a backlog for long — and what does. Evidence from real redesigns, not slideware. A room leaves with one idea it can act on, and the proof behind it.
Stuart Corrigan is the founder of Descartes Consulting and an Amazon UK #1 bestselling author (Waterfall Project ER). Over 25 years he has redesigned service operations across insurance, banking, pensions and the public sector — removing the conditions that create backlogs, and proving it on the numbers: he cut a 100,000-case claims backlog from 508 days to 35.
Operations leaders are under pressure to cut cost, lift service and "add AI" all at once. Stuart gives a room the one idea that makes those goals compatible instead of competing. His talks carry the same voice as his work: direct, evidence-led, free of jargon. Audiences don't leave inspired — they leave able to see their own operation differently.
Cost, service and AI pressure are converging on operations teams right now — and most "AI-first" answers quietly make the backlog worse.
Hard numbers from real engagements, shown on control charts — not slogans, and not a hype reel.
Built around your audience and sector — the kind of session senior operators stay in the room for.
Each one gets into how the work actually flows, and the one thing to fix first. No keynote theatre. Every talk is shaped around the audience in the room.
Headcount, overtime and new software rarely clear a backlog for long — it comes back, because the real cause is a single constraint hidden inside a complex flow. The Low Effort Method finds that constraint and removes it, without a new system and without extra people. Proven when a 100,000-case backlog fell from 508 days to 35.
The instinct on a late project is to add people, add hours and cut scope — and each of those makes it later. There is a counter-intuitive way to recover a programme that is already behind — and it has brought late-running projects home for some of the largest UK blue chip companies.
Available in-person across the UK & Europe and virtually worldwide. Content is shaped around your audience, sector and the outcome you want in the room.
A backlog of well over 100,000 cases at one of the world's largest insurers. No new system, no extra headcount — one constraint removed.
Figures from a documented engagement. Talks are tailored; the underlying method is the same one applied here.
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We'll come back to you within two working days on fit and format. If it's urgent, email nadine@descartesconsulting.co.uk.
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