How I work
This is not a duplicate CV. LinkedIn provides my professional chronology; this page explains the thinking behind the work presented throughout this website.
Judgement before change
Throughout my career I have been trusted to work across technology, information and organisational challenges, identifying where change will genuinely add value—and where it will not.
Not every complex system needs replacing. Some benefit from refinement. Others need better structure, clearer governance or a more effective way of working. Sometimes the right answer is to leave the system itself unchanged while improving the way people understand or interact with it.
The value lies not in changing everything, but in applying experience and judgement to determine the most appropriate response.
Observe. Refine. Design.
Most of my work follows the same simple pattern.
Observe
Understand the environment before proposing solutions. Explore the people, processes, information, technology and constraints until the problem is properly understood.
Refine
Identify what is essential. Separate meaningful structure from habit, noise and accidental complexity, then determine where effort will have the greatest impact.
Design
Develop practical solutions that fit the organisation and its environment. These may take the form of strategy, architecture, governance, software, publications or formal specifications.
Experience that spans disciplines
My experience spans software engineering, systems architecture, product management, information management, databases, data governance and technology leadership across both commercial organisations and higher education.
Working across these disciplines has taught me that effective solutions rarely emerge from a single perspective. Technology, information, governance, process and organisational objectives all influence the outcome.
That breadth of experience allows me to move comfortably between strategic discussions and technical detail, evaluating problems from multiple perspectives before determining the most appropriate course of action.
I am a Fellow of BCS and a Chartered IT Professional. For current roles, professional chronology and recommendations, my LinkedIn profile remains the canonical source.
Thinking made tangible
The publications and software presented on this website are outcomes of that approach.
The Data Berg Model began with the observation that archived data lacked a common language for describing its long-term behaviour. CapsuleJobs explores how computational work can become portable, reproducible and self-describing.
The Time Collection examines different ways of representing the same underlying information through visual patterns, historical notation, computational notation and natural language. Gluggy was developed by first understanding the workflow of a recurring mobile service business and then designing software around it.
Different projects. Different domains. The same underlying approach.
Looking ahead
Technology will continue to evolve, but careful observation, sound judgement and thoughtful design remain constant.
Whether working with organisations, publishing new frameworks or developing software, my objective is the same: to develop solutions that are practical, appropriate and built to last.