Holly Dekle is an engineer and a PMP-certified program manager with more than two decades of experience leading aerospace, defense and maritime programs across the full lifecycle, from initial planning through design, development, qualification and certification, production transition and closeout. She founded Set Boundaries, LLC in 2020 in Austin, Texas.
Who she is
Holly is the person companies call when a program has to be recovered or delivered. She is an engineer first, which shapes how she runs programs. She can understand the technical issue behind a slipping milestone, challenge the assumptions around it, help the team develop practical alternatives and evaluate them against schedule, budget, risk and requirements. She is also a program manager who owns the plan: the Project Charter, the integrated Microsoft Project schedule, the risk and opportunity process and the communication with customers and leadership.
Her career has covered engine controls, fuel pumps, gearboxes, a business jet wing, naval ship programs, Coast Guard equipment, defense electronics and displays, and manufacturing transitions. Before founding Set Boundaries she managed multimillion dollar programs and customer portfolios at large aerospace, maritime and manufacturing companies, on both government and commercial contracts.
Career highlights
A selection of the programs Holly has worked on, in roughly the order they happened:
- Collins Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Joint Strike Fighter.
- Rolls-Royce.
- Triumph, HondaJet and GE.
- major engine and airframe manufacturers.
- Triumph and GE.
- Triumph, IHI and a Japanese defense application.
- Triumph and Bombardier Global 5000/6000.
- Triumph, SAAB and Boeing.
- Additive manufacturing on a mission-critical airframe-mounted component.
- General Dynamics Mission Systems, Littoral Combat Ship.
- Fairbanks Morse Defense and the U.S. Coast Guard.
- A defense display manufacturer.
- Complex manufacturing transitions.
Organization and platform names describe programs Holly Dekle has worked on during her career, including roles with prior employers. They do not indicate a current affiliation with, or an endorsement of Set Boundaries by, any of these organizations.
What she is proudest of
Many program managers specialize in one phase: startup, recovery or closeout. What Holly values most in her own career is the full lifecycle. She has taken programs from the first stakeholder conversation and a signed Project Charter, through design, prototype and development, testing, qualification and certification, into production transition, customer acceptance and formal closeout.
That experience changes how she starts a program. Knowing what qualification, certification and closeout will demand, she plans for them at the beginning rather than discovering them at the end.
How she works
Holly is direct, structured, technically engaged and calm. She communicates very directly, which can be an adjustment for organizations used to reading between the lines, but it means nobody has to guess where the program stands. She tailors the structure to the program, the stakeholders, the customer and the level of risk rather than applying one template to everything.
- Clarity on what and when, autonomy on how. She does not micromanage how engineers work. She establishes what has to be done, when, why it matters and the boundaries, then gives people room to use their expertise.
- Conflict addressed directly. Two people with an issue talk to each other before escalating. If she has a concern about someone's work, she talks to that person first, and she expects the same courtesy.
- No panic. When something goes wrong, she calls it a plot twist. Identify what changed, determine the impact, develop options and move forward.
- Intentional overcommunication. Customers typically hear from her at least weekly, and leadership receives formal status at least monthly, more often when the program is critical.
In her words: "My job is not to make everyone's decisions. My job is to create an environment where good people can execute successfully."
What former team members say
People who have worked on Holly's programs tend to mention the same things. They knew what was expected of them. The plans were realistic. Not everything was treated as an emergency. They could take a vacation without guilt. And they were protected from uncontrolled work while everyone, including her, was held accountable for their commitments. Customers and colleagues have put it in their own words:
Holly is able to quickly formulate and execute detailed project plans transforming chaotic programs into predictable successes. Key to Holly's triumphs is her deep project management knowledge, work ethic and clear communication style.
Holly knew how to drive her team to deliver results within a very aggressive timeline and managed change very effectively. When you work with Holly you always know the status of your project and know what will be delivered and when.
Holly was always proactive in managing the team and ensuring that we stay on schedule and meet customer needs. Holly also is good to ensure we follow process and always incorporated any lessons learned from previous programs into her own.
Why she founded Set Boundaries
Across her career, Holly saw the same pattern on troubled programs. Engineering teams kept responding to requests from the customer's technical organization without first establishing whether those requests were contractual requirements, or what they did to cost and schedule. Over time the team lost sight of what done meant. The programs that succeeded were the ones where the boundaries were clear from the start.
She founded Set Boundaries, LLC in 2020 in Austin, Texas, as a woman-owned small business focused only on aerospace, defense and maritime programs. The goal is not permanent dependence. When Set Boundaries leaves a program, either the customer is satisfied, commitments are delivered, milestone payments are achieved and production deliveries have started, or the client has a repeatable program office process and a team that knows how to run it.
What the name means
If clear boundaries for success are not established at the beginning, made visible and executed against, a program will not succeed. The boundaries are requirements, scope, schedule, cost, authority, accountability, communication, customer requests, risk and the definition of completion. The Project Charter establishes them. The integrated schedule makes them visible. The program office keeps the organization executing within them. When circumstances change, the tradeoffs are made visible so leadership decides, rather than letting the program drift.
There is one boundary Holly does not compromise: professional respect. Disagreement and pressure are part of program work. Disrespectful or abusive behavior is not.
Credentials
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Engineer, with more than two decades of aerospace, defense and maritime program experience
- Founder and owner, Set Boundaries, LLC, a woman-owned small business
Talk with Holly
If you have just won a program and need the structure to deliver it, or you have a program that needs to be recovered, schedule a call with Holly and tell her where the program stands.
Questions
Common questions
What is Holly Dekle's background?
Holly is an engineer and a PMP-certified program manager with more than two decades of aerospace, defense and maritime experience. Her programs have included engine controls, fuel pumps, gearboxes, a business jet wing program, Littoral Combat Ship work, Coast Guard davit overhaul and defense display programs. She has worked across the full lifecycle, from planning and design through qualification, certification, production transition and closeout. She founded Set Boundaries in 2020.
What is Holly like to work with?
Direct, structured, technically engaged and calm. She is clear about what has to be done, when and why, and leaves the how to the people doing the work. She addresses conflict directly and early. When something goes wrong she treats it as a plot twist: work out what changed, determine the impact, develop options and move on. Former team members mention realistic plans and not treating everything as an emergency.
Does Holly run the program herself?
Yes. In the preferred program office model, Holly serves as the Program Manager and owns time, money, strategy and major stakeholder communication. Depending on the complexity of the program, she may recommend one or more Set Boundaries Project Engineers, who execute against her plan and provide the technical and tactical support that keeps the interdisciplinary team moving. The client keeps decision authority on the choices that belong to leadership.
Are the companies in her career history clients of Set Boundaries?
Most are not. The organizations named describe programs Holly worked on during her career, many of them while employed by other companies. Naming them shows the programs and customers her experience covers; it does not imply a current relationship with, or endorsement by, those organizations. Where a current Set Boundaries client has not approved publication of its name, we describe it instead, for example as a defense display manufacturer.
Why is the company called Set Boundaries?
Because programs fail when their boundaries are unclear. Requirements, scope, schedule, cost, authority, accountability, communication, customer requests, risk and the definition of completion all have to be established at the start, made visible and executed against. The Project Charter establishes them, the integrated schedule makes them visible, and the program office keeps the team working within them. When things change, leadership sees the tradeoffs and decides.
Have a question that is not here? Ask Holly on a short call