Shirley recently received her doctorate in coaching and mentoring from Oxford Brookes University. She was a project manager in software development at IBM until 2005 and now runs a small coaching practice. She aims to support people to develop essential soft skills. She volunteers with PMI UK in the mentoring team, is a mentor coach with The Coaching Academy and supports the Responsible Project Management initiative. Her clients tend to be busy people who juggle many projects: they are often coaches or freelancers who find time-effective support through collaborative group work.