Predictably Broken: Straight Talk on Failures in Biopharma Operations and How to Fix Them

Cut the Jargon and Kill the Waste: Real Solutions for Biopharma Operations

Biopharmaceutical companies don’t fail because of bad science—they fail because of broken operations. Projects stall, budgets vanish into black holes, and people accept inefficiency as the cost of doing business. But the truth is, the chaos is predictable—and fixable.

Predictably Broken delivers a better way. Drawing from years leading academic research at top universities and hands-on biopharma consulting, Oscar Gonzalez introduces The Biopharma Nexus, a practical model that connects portfolio operations, research operations, business operations, and governance, fortified by a unified data structure. This framework replaces chaos with clarity and communication, helps teams execute business strategy effectively, and eliminates the cultural habits that keep inefficiency in place.

In this book, you’ll learn how to:

• Gain project visibility with portfolio systems that track progress, costs, and project resources in real time.
• Prevent wasted research with operational efficiency so scientists and vendors have exactly what they need to deliver.
• Eliminate bottlenecks by aligning finance, legal, and IT to actively support growth instead of slowing it down.
• Solve business problems with people-focused solutions—using governance and leadership to ensure clarity, collaboration, and transparent decisions.
• Break the burnout cycle by challenging cultural habits that normalize inefficiency and drain team energy.

Practical, candid, and rooted in lived experience, Predictably Broken shows you exactly how to simplify complex work and get results. Whether you’re in the lab, managing a portfolio, or leading the entire organization, this book gives you the tools to make biopharma operations smarter, faster, and far more effective. Don’t settle for broken systems—fix them.

Oscar Gonzalez is the CEO and cofounder of Sigma Consulting and a trusted adviser to biopharma and biotech companies seeking to identify and fix broken operations. Known as the Candid Consultant with over 15 years in biopharma research, clinical, and business operations, he brings cross-functional expertise to help organizations eliminate waste and achieve clarity. He is the author of Predictably Broken and host of the Lean by Design podcast. Learn more at sigmalabconsulting.com.