I spent about ten years as a developer, starting on the front end and moving towards full-stack work in PHP and Python.
I moved into technical project management at the BBC because being a developer was fun, but once I started managing teams I could see how much more difference I could make by helping coordinate a team than by working on my own. Project management turned out not to be my thing, though.
At Hotels.com I started to understand that building the wrong thing is a waste of everyone’s time. I got hooked on the puzzle of working out which problem to solve next, and that’s how I found my way into product.
Pivotal Labs is where I learnt my trade. I got to practise, again and again, the techniques we all read about and know we should be doing but rarely get to do in real life. I also got to coach people and help them get better at what they do, and I find that deeply satisfying.
Since then I’ve mostly worked independently, through Strangely Calm. I’ve seen a lot of different ways of working, good and bad, across a lot of different industries. I’ve made things better for people in most of them, either by making their product better or by making their team better. Often both.
Why “Strangely Calm”?
Years ago I was a front-end developer at an agency, working on site for a huge financial client. The workload was heavy and the deadline was looming, but I was in the zone, working through tickets and cruising along. Someone remarked that I looked “strangely calm” in the middle of the chaos.
I liked that, and it’s something I try to bring to every team I work with. Getting stressed about the situation doesn’t make delivery any faster, or working life any better. Staying calm, cracking on, and getting the job done does.
Outside work
A lot of my spare time goes on dinghy sailing in my Comet at Priory Sailing Club. I’ve recently qualified as an instructor, so I spend a fair bit of it teaching young sailors how to catch the wind and make it take them where they want to go.
I get there on a Triumph Sprint GT. It’s not the bike my extensive research recommended, but it was red and pretty, and brilliant for the long-distance touring I wish I did more of. I justified it by adding “Desire” as a non-functional requirement.
When it’s too icy for the bike and the wind isn’t playing ball, I read, make things in wood, and play video games.