About Julian

During the 1980’s and 1990’s, Julian worked in the IT industry as a software developer, systems analyst, data architect and project manager. In general, the IT industry struggled to implement IT systems with routine success and Julian started to experiment with new ways to address the problem.

In 2000, his research culminated in a PhD entitled “The Design of Collaborative Projects”. Julian’s research entailed a systemic exploration into the reasons why so many organisational projects fail, and he realised that dysfunctional collaboration lies at the heart of the issue. He discovered that collaborations have underlying designs, some more productive than others, and that it is possible to diagnose unproductive collaborations and deliberately design them for success.

Since then, Julian has operated as a practitioner in his mission to help people create manageability in their collaborative projects. He has refined his theory of collaborative projects to make it publicly accessible in a white paper published by Henley Business School titled Deliberate Collaboration.

Julian believes strongly in Kurt Lewin’s statement that “there is nothing so practical as a good theory”, and he has used his theory to inform a practical methodology for designing productive collaborative projects at all levels in the organisation from small operational projects all the way through to strategic projects and organisational effectiveness.

Julian believes in action learning, and he has spent over twenty five years refining a reusable collaboration design that has widespread appeal and practical application at all levels in all organisations, namely The Systemic Stairway®. This methodology enables people to find the deep simplicity in complex situations so that they can quickly become manageable.

Julian has used his methodology as a professional facilitator to help many organisations manage their complex situations and implement their projects successfully. He has also developed his own training courses and shared his methodology with thousands of people who find his approach practical and useful at work and also in their everyday lives.

Julian teaches in-house and also at prestigious business schools in South Africa including University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), Gordons Institute of Business Science (GIBS), Henley Business School and Stellenbosch Business Institute. Julian has published a book entitled The Systemic Stairway™: Practical management for anybody who needs to manage anything.