About

For almost 30 years, I have lived, breathed, and sometimes coughed up information technology. I've also supervised the production of control boards for missiles and torpedoes, worked as a private investigator, managed a textbook warehouse, and lived in South America.

I have been programming since 1992. I've worked pretty much every job in I.T. From about 2014, I've provided consulting and training in IT service management, project management, talent management, and business process improvement.

Some results I have achieved for my clients:

  • Among the numerous websites I've built over the years was an e-commerce system for a family-owned business. The products required a highly specialized pricing model and some advanced shipping integrations. By the time I handed it off, this site had grown to $4M+ in revenue.
  • I've helped small ISPs and hosting providers by creating server-side tools for managing hosting in bulk. These tools allowed non-technical customer service agents to securely serve clients in real-time, which improved first-call resolution and the customer experience.
  • Lots of companies struggle with recruiting and retaining qualified people. I helped one such organization in a geographically challenged job market by creating a job/level system based on capability and contribution. Market-based pay was tied to predefined employee levels which served to both recruit and retain the most qualified individuals for any given job type.
  • Meetings Are Toxic, Signal Vs Noise Feb 20, 2018: "Meetings are one of the worst kinds of workplace interruptions. They're held too frequently, run too long, and involve more people than necessary." I've helped organizations take control of meetings by defining the purpose, frequency, and expected outcomes. This reduced time spent in meetings and increased productivity.
  • Some vendors treat enterprise pricing like a kind of twisted Price is Right (where the goal is to guess the price without going under). I helped one organization negotiate the pricing on licenses for a certain enterprise database, saving at least 50K dollars.
  • I've trained hundreds of people in IT service management, establishing processes that take the randomness out of every-day work to improve efficiency and effectiveness, which makes for happier employees and customers.
  • Issue-based planning is a type of strategic planning which focuses on identifying problems or challenges in business operation. These issues are categorized and ranked, and become part of an easy-to-understand action plan. I helped one organization completely turn around a failing department using issue-based planning. There were communication problems, training problems, technical problems, and reputation problems. All addressed through issue-based planning.
  • Although I'm not a fan of industrial agriculture, a business I knew needed help with grain theft. Some unscrupulous drivers would surreptitiously pick up a load of grain and deliver it to be sold as their own. So I created a tool that allowed them to define the drivers that were allowed to pick up grain. The driver would send a text message to a number that would toggle the power on the grain augur. This sophisticated implementation utilized a custom-made web application, text/SMS integration, and hardware automation -- and it completely shut down the theft.
  • Data-driven decision-making takes the guesswork out of both strategic planning and demand management. I created the "Data Services Blueprint" to help one client create a new department dedicated to compliance management, business analytics, and predictive analytics. This included processes for data definition, report production, and information security. It also included the job descriptions and the technology products involved.
  • An international fitness company had a whole bunch of data spread out across different systems. The data was of varying quality. I created a bespoke ETL system to bring and validate all of that data into a single data warehouse. This system is now an integral part of daily reporting as well as strategic planning at the corporate level.