Writing
Working papers, case studies and essays: sizing fleets of AI coding agents, the platforms we build and run, legacy modernisation, Java upgrades, and the idea behind our name. Follow along in a reader: Atom feed.
The funding platform, taken international
The platform behind UK innovation funding, adopted by an intergovernmental R&D network to run cross-border funding programmes such as Eurostars. We helped take it there.
Innovate UK · GOV.UKInside Innovate UK's Innovation Funding Service
Years as one of the core engineers on the open-source GOV.UK platform that runs Innovate UK's grant competitions — applications, assessment and project setup, at national scale. The contribution is public and verifiable.
EssaySpring Boot 2.7 end of life: what the upgrade to 3 costs
Two estates reported the same unsupported Spring version and needed very different work. The version number tells you that you are behind but not what it costs to catch up.
GoodFlexi · UK, CA, ORThe platform behind quality flexible work
We build and run GoodFlexi — a labour marketplace offering flexible work with real protections across the UK, California and Oregon. Here's the engineering behind it.
EssayModernising legacy systems without the big-bang rewrite
Why the from-scratch rewrite usually fails, and how a system gets modernised in place — one slice at a time, while it keeps running.
EssayWhat is polymorphism?
The idea behind our name — what polymorphism means in programming, the forms it takes, and why it matters for software that has to keep changing.
papers
Longer pieces, published on the comic’s own site because that is where they started.
The Seven Hills of Sheffield
Sheffield’s seven hills, by prominence: High Neb, Back Tor, Howden Edge, Edge Mount, Parkwood Springs, Lodge Moor and Backmoor. The measure that settles them.
Paper · 12 revisions since 11 September 2026, 8 of them correctionsWhy Seven Hills? Rome, Sheffield, and four thousand books
Sheffield is said to be built on seven hills. So are Rome, Durham and Bristol. Four thousand books say it was never a count.
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