Consulting

Barry takes a refreshing and highly effective approach to getting a cross-functional group of managers to identify and prove value from innovation that would otherwise remain hidden or blocked in their business. The approach of driving very early customer testing well ahead of when it would normally be done - in parallel with developing the bigger vision - forces a focus on minimum viable product and early proof points. This proved to be very engaging in our business for stakeholders up to board level - instead of 'here is a big programme - trust us' the message was 'here is a game changing initiative and you can touch and feel the first steps of it'. Barry brings a very practical style and methodology to bear which empowered the team - so we really owned the outcome and developed both as a team and as individuals.

Barry helped AIB, the largest retail bank in Ireland, achieve a step change in its digital journey. By combining his senior level communication skills with his deep insight on how to leverage technology at scale, he influenced key stakeholders across the bank to do things differently

The Google Sprint Master Academy invited Barry to speak to our trainees on coaching and collaborating with senior stakeholders to create space for continuous innovation in the product development lifecycle. He shared advice on leadership, business transformation and inspired our Sprint Masters to push innovation throughout the company.

Barry was instrumental in the conception and formation of an 'innovation engine' at lastminute.com. Not only were we able to identify and develop winning ideas at pace but the whole organization was reinvigorated by an approach which delivered measurable results. Doubling revenue for the business

Barry is exceptionally good at leading teams in the process of new product development. He gets the team to use the lean toolkit to build and test in fast iterations, getting results that may not be achievable in other ways. Barry led a team in delivering two product development projects for me at JustGiving and helped us test our ideas very quickly and effectively. He is an excellent coach to the team, leaving everyone energized and more productive after each interaction

Barry has a really synthetic view, which is key to reduce challenges to small iterations that help getting quick feedback and re-adapting to maximize value. He really understands lean and agile methodologies and sees how they can be used, not only in startups, but even in larger, more complex companies

Agility in a digital world is no longer optional and if you don’t embrace experimentation and value based decision making in your market, then someone else will. Barry can take you and your team on a journey towards disrupting the disruptors and then, like us, you will learn to use techniques such as Lean Product Development and Workload Visualisation in order to make the right "customer-based" decisions. These techniques also made us address every aspect of our thinking from just in time architecture towards continuous delivery and hence cutting cycle times in half in order to deliver new products and platforms more frequently. In fact we went from huge twice yearly releases to multiple releases per day. This way of working not only energizes the team but it enables innovation though learning and more importantly builds mutual respect between stakeholders which may be broken

Barry constantly challenged what others held to be sacred in order to deliver a series of rapid proofs of totally new concepts for JustGiving; and together we explored the complex boundary between business fundamentals and software development to forge experimental new practices

I don't often come away from a workshop with pages of notes that I actually read. This was definitely an exception. What Barry O'Reilly has to say about how organizations can manage their work is invaluable for any business leader.

The "Lean Enterprise" book is packed full of wisdom and Barry's session captured some of the most important parts in an engaging and entertaining way