People First Method

About Us

We exist to help technical professionals — and the teams that deliver alongside them — master the people-first “power skills” that turn technical expertise into successful projects, stronger careers, and clients who keep coming back.

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Why it matters

The bigger the project, the more it fails.

Most technology projects fail — and the rate climbs with size and complexity, from ~45% to as high as ~95% on the largest initiatives (66% overall, Standish CHAOS 2020). Almost always for non-technical reasons: people, communication, requirements, governance, and change. And the risk keeps rising: today’s projects connect more systems, carry more — and more varied — data, and are delivered by teams spread across geographies and time zones — multiplying the communication surface where projects break.

Prior examples we want to help you avoid:

$440MKnight CapitalLost in ~30 minutes — a rushed 30-day timeline and retained dead code.
$5BFoxMeyer DrugsERP failure to bankruptcy. “It wasn’t the software — it was the intangibles.”
30%Target CanadaOnly 30% of the data was correct — the supply chain collapsed and the chain shut down.
£11.4BNHS Civilian ITOne of the largest IT programme write-offs in history.

An estimated $50–150B is wasted on failed IT projects every year (Gallup).

And the dollars are only the business cost. When a project goes red, the bill lands on you personally:

  • Sleepless nights and the stress of an account going sideways
  • A performance review that tells the project’s story instead of your skill
  • Getting passed over while the project drags
  • No brag-book wins or resume assets to show for the year
  • A reputation hit that follows you to the next opportunity
  • Boundaries trampled — overcommitment, rework, and burnout

These weren’t technology failures. They were people, planning, and discipline failures — exactly what the People First Method fixes.

The AI question

Why isn’t AI all over this page?

Because AI doesn’t fix why projects fail — it accelerates it. MIT’s 2025 State of AI in Business found 95% of enterprise generative-AI pilots deliver no measurable return. AI makes work faster — including the wrong work. It only makes doing the wrong things easier and faster.

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

— Peter Drucker

That’s the gap the People First Method closes. We build and align the vision, values, and a clarified definition of victory — through axioms, artifacts, and a relentless focus on what matters most: the successful outcomes of real people. Get that right, and AI becomes an accelerator instead of a liability.

Source: MIT NANDA, “The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business,” 2025

Proven success

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Whether you’re an independent professional building your career or a leader strengthening a delivery team, the results below are the same method at work.

15yearsrefining the People First Method
30private cohortstrained and graduated inside teams & organizations
1,000+technical projectsdrawn from across Salesforce, Microsoft, AWS, enterprise architecture, and countless platforms & challenges. No tech project is immune — and the risk only grows with AI.
~95%success rateacross those projects

“For two years I networked, volunteered, and earned ten certifications — and still couldn’t land a role. Focusing on people-first skills is what finally got me hired.”

— Serina, PFM alum

“Technical skills can be taught; soft skills are what truly set you apart.”

— PFM graduate

“We used PFM to give our technical staff enduring, in-demand people skills.”

— Tim Harting, COO, Cirrius Solutions

The Program

Why every lesson matters

Level I is 24 core lessons plus 3 bonus Level II vignettes, delivered as a 6-month cohort — accelerated private cohorts available for teams — because you can’t binge mindset and behavior change. Explore each theme to see what you walk away able to do.

The pace is by design: durable habits take a median of 66 days to form (Lally et al., 2010), and learning spaced over time beats cramming for long-term retention (Cepeda et al., 2006).

The people-first mindset and client-handling instincts that set up every engagement to succeed.

1Overview — Get oriented, adopt the people-first mindset that complements your technical skills, and learn to leverage small talk as strategy.
2The Vital Role of Culture & Values — Read a client's real culture and values early, so you spot the misalignments that sink projects before they do.
3Be a Learn-It-All — Draw out the tribal knowledge — even from the quiet experts — and learn from both prior failures and current challenges, so your solution gets dramatically better.
4This Is What I Can Do — Say “no” by saying “yes”: handle unreasonable asks with feasible trade-offs that manage expectations, protect boundaries, and the relationship.
5Consultative, Not Compliant — Uncover the real business need behind a request, so you build the right thing instead of just what was asked.
6High-Empathy Teamwork — Be contemporaneous, anticipate needs, and set up all sides of the project team for success — the “extra 5%” that makes you irreplaceable.
7Landing for the Long Term — Turn every demo into the next opportunity, building a backlog that becomes future revenue.

The documentation discipline that de-risks delivery, gets your work formally accepted, and makes go-live a non-event.

8Project Workbook — Run a single source of truth that ends version chaos and speeds client turnaround.
9Test Plans — Get work formally accepted — and invoices paid — with UAT plans clients validate themselves.
10Recordings — Protect yourself and save hours with recorded, searchable calls and demos.
11Deployment Plans — Make go-live "a yawn" by choreographing every cutover step in advance.
12Process Diagrams — Align everyone on who-does-what and defeat the "I always thought it worked this way" dispute.
13Org Documentation & Context Signaling — Make Salesforce self-documenting so users succeed with little or no training — the 5% that sets you apart.
14Solution Design Document — Keep one living "rulebook" that wins disputes, lets anyone get current in minutes, and justifies your estimates.

The advanced relationship, psychology, and adoption skills that turn delivery into trust, referrals, and lasting ROI.

15Turning Chaos Into Compliments — Turn a client's messy reality into rapport and referrals instead of embarrassment.
16Get to the Why — Drive every request back to the real goal, so you never build the wrong target.
17Culture Over Competence — Staff and hire for character, avoiding the costly mid-project replacement.
18Flip the Switch (Anxiety → Enthusiasm) — Deliver hard news as enthusiasm, keeping client trust and project momentum.
19Arm's-Length Principle — Stay empathetic but professional, protecting both your authority and your billable scope.
20Backlog Is Your Best Friend — Treat a growing backlog as job security and a future-sales pipeline.
21Humor Is Vital to Great Delivery — Use safe humor to relax clients so they tell you what really went wrong.
22Firewall the Frenzy & Frustration — Absorb client panic without passing it to your team, protecting morale and margin.
23You Can't Automate Imagination — Prove processes manually before automating, so you build it right the first time.
24Demo a Brick as a Building — Deliver a compelling demo even when the work is incomplete — never losing momentum.

A preview of Level II — inspection, use cases, and adoption accelerators — included with your Level I membership.

25Clients Respect Where You Inspect and Interject — Motivate clients to deliver their part, unblocking stalled work and keeping the schedule.
26The Power of a Use Case — Make any concept click instantly by anchoring it to each stakeholder's own world.
27Adoption Accelerators — Carry the features users love into the new system to drive adoption — the real measure of project ROI.

By the end of Level I you can do what Trailhead and certifications don’t teach: read culture, run the artifacts that de-risk delivery, hold boundaries, turn delivery into expansion, and drive the adoption that decides whether a project succeeds.

Leadership

The People of People First Method

Zac Gleason

Co-Founder, COO

Zac leads the People First Method day to day — running cohorts, coaching members, and steering operations as COO. A scientist and operations leader, he brings 19+ years of building and mentoring high-performing teams: as Laboratory & Facilities Director at the Water Quality Association he grew lab-services revenue 57% over six years while developing a 15-person team, and across R&D leadership roles he drove product development and employee growth on projects spanning the U.S., Africa, and Asia. He pairs that people-first instinct with exacting operational rigor — risk management, documentation, and P&L discipline — and brings all of it to every PFM cohort.

Jon Cline

Co-Founder

Jon created the People First Method over 15 years of developing Salesforce professionals and leading private cohorts. A 14x-certified Salesforce Solution Architect with 20+ years platform experience and 1,000+ projects delivered, he is UX-certified in Interaction Design by Nielsen Norman Group and a Toastmasters veteran of 10+ years — the genesis of the program’s culture goals. His playbook now powers every PFM cohort.

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Member Stories

Samantha wanted to grow and step into more leadership opportunities. She is a Salesforce Consultant and People First Method alum.

For two years, Serina actively pursued employment—volunteering, networking extensively, and even earning ten certifications. Despite her efforts, she struggled to secure a position.

Everything changed when she discovered the People First Method and shifted her focus to developing her soft skills. She credits this pivotal change for ultimately landing her a job.

Jackson wanted more flexibility and a career path he could start while in college. He is a Salesforce Consultant and a People First Method coach.

Ajay wanted to become more valuable in the workforce and have more control and flexibility in his career. He is a Salesforce Consultant and People First Method alumnus.

Zachary wanted to stop driving with little earnings as a Taskrabbit and overcome barriers to growth as a Consultant. He is a Salesforce Consultant and People First Method Alumnus.

Mike wanted to modernize his IT skills and become more bold and skilled with business leaders. He is a Salesforce Consultant and People First Method Alumnus.

Jeff wanted to transition from organizational leadership and leverage his technology skills. He is a Salesforce Consultant and People First Method coach.

Emily wanted to accelerate her growth even with limited prior experience. She is a Salesforce Consultant and People First Method alumna.

Tim Harting, as COO of Cirrius Solutions, wanted to upskill his technical staff with enduring and in-demand people skills to make projects even more successful.

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