Not so bad

The project I bailed out of still wants to use me - and is prepared to treat Leapfrog as an 'expert external adviser' rather than insisting that I become a pseudo member of staff. That's great - it means I can use some of the other people in my network for the areas where I'm weak, and I also won't feel that I'm being sucked into the quagmire of corporate politics. The whole programme may not have legs - that'll be seen when the business case goes in, but by maintaining some independence from the team and the management they're dealing with, I'm in a far better position to give and follow-up on honest advice rather than being tied by the baggage an internal role invariably brings.

It could all go tits up yet, but at least I now feel better about the programme's communications.