Consulting
I work with engineering and product teams on architecture, migrations, reliability and operating costs.
I investigate the problem, explain the options and trade-offs, and recommend a practical next step. I can also work with your team to implement it.
Examples from building and running a platform for professional photographers (cloudspot.io), alongside the engineering team and external partners.
A useful starting point is one important problem that the team cannot resolve within one part of the system.
The diagnostic is the starting point and stands on its own. We continue only when a next step has a clear purpose.
We agree on one important question, the information needed to investigate it, and the scope and timing before work begins. I need time with the person responsible for the decision and access to the relevant systems and evidence.
You receive a written assessment: what I found, the options and trade-offs, my recommendation, and an ordered plan for the next steps. That gives your team something useful whether we continue together or you take it from there.
I investigate one important system problem using the relevant people, architecture, code, production evidence and business constraints. The aim is to explain what is happening and why.
You receive the available options, a recommendation and a prioritised action plan. Risks, trade-offs and what remains unknown are made explicit.
If the diagnostic identifies a bounded, valuable change, I can implement it with the team. The work is tied to one agreed outcome, not the general engineering backlog.
The work includes measurement, documentation, review and handover so the team can operate and extend the change.
After a diagnostic or bounded implementation has established the necessary context, I can provide ongoing, part-time senior technical support for architecture decisions, technical roadmaps, difficult incidents, vendor choices and selected hands-on investigation.
This does not include permanent on-call responsibility, people management or general coding capacity.
Not a fit: general coding capacity, a pre-decided broad rewrite, permanent on-call ownership or people management, or generic AI training without a system or product outcome.
Email me with what changed, what is blocked, and why it matters now. I will tell you whether I can help and what the most useful next step would be.