• Architect: creating solutions, or helping others to refine and formalise theirs
• Analyst: identifying, challenging and articulating the key requirements and business case
• Communicator: ensuring key issues are thoroughly explained and understood, and guiding balanced decision-making
• Project Manager: structuring work appropriately for the solution, then driving delivery on critical components
• Developer: when appropriate, directly creating solutions

Analysing complex problems, finding innovative, enduring solutions

• Developed and promoted an integration architecture for National Grid which survived several generations of system evolution, allowing major system replacements and rationalization with minimal impact on other systems, significantly reducing costs.
• Guided Accenture to rectify early performance and reliability problems with National Grid’s Field Force Solution, which then delivered business value for over ten years.
• Delivered an agile shelf-edge ticketing solution for Marks and Spencer despite severe constraints on platforms, networks and a Y2K application change freeze. The new solution reduced key business process from over 14 days to a few hours.

• Provided technical leadership in the migration of National Grid’s business systems to new “private cloud” data centres, co-ordinating multiple partner organisations and developing tools, standards and techniques used across the programme.
• Articulated and promoted the vision for National Grid’s work and asset management portfolio, to drive a strategy of dramatic system rationalization and modernisation. Acted as Design Authority understanding and communicating multiple complex interactions and and coordinating the work of multiple development partners to preserve and improve the architecture’s integrity over several years.

Software development and project management

• Developed a network orchestration platform for UBS, using Cisco, Python and open source technologies.
• Designed a secure but flexible network architecture for National Grid’s Smart Asset Management initiative, providing an appropriate balance between strategic control, tactical innovation and long term flexibility and security.
• Ran the procurement exercise to establish the hardware solution for that programme.
• Developed working prototypes of several solutions, including innovative components in National Grid’s integration environment, and the idWorkshop Knowledge Base. Repeatedly demonstrated ability to quickly adopt new technologies and environments.
• Devised a new way to document and model complex Enterprise Data Architectures.

Book Reviews

My professional book review topics include Architecture, Human-Computer Interaction, Project and People Management, Modelling and Analysis, and Programming and Development.