Products I have developed
Products developed from idea through to polished product.
Over the years I have worked on projects big and small. I have converted C++ programs to VB.Net and C#, I have invented completely new software packages from scratch and have worked on some of the leading software packages on the market.
However, there is nothing better than the buzz you get from opening your IDE, creating a new, blank, solution and writing that first line of code. Then the real work begins.
I think the smallest spec I worked on was a three paragraph 'thoughts' document for Integrated Performance Measures for Lucidus Ltd that turned into pretty much the entire business. It's both scary and gratifying to know that a business is built around the product that you have written.
Applications
From blank page to commercial product
The products presented here are commercial products where I have started with a blank page. I've gone through the analysis of the problem, the design of a solution, the redesign as peoples ideas solidified and the development, maintenance and support of the final product.
Many of the products were written while employed for one company and writing for another. I have had the good fortune to have worked for a company who recognised that the side projects I have done for others actually benefit them too.
This list is not exhaustive.
Integrated Performance Measures
IPM was a flexible commercial modelling package, that was used for such diverse applications as the assessment, communication and tracking of value in sales and the deployment, communication and management of corporate improvement & change management.
In a show of it's modelling flexibility one customer even used it to model a failing chemical reaction, resulting in changes to the formula to cause the rection to occur!
Technology wise, IPM was in a state of flux. It had grown from a Visual Basic 3 application to a Visual Basic 6 application over a number of years. It worked well on modern machines but looked dated. As I added new components to the suite, I developed these in C#. At the same time, I started a re-write of IPM in C#, a major undertaking as few of the VB6 controls had C# equivalents.
Effectiveness Assessment
Sales improvement begins with a clear definition of what solutions are being offered to the customer and how that solution contributes to growth and profit margin improvement. Effectiveness Assessment was a tool for defining the components of the solution, how they bring profitable growth and what factors affect how effective the solution is.
As this was a new component in the suite, the technology was open. It was developed using C# and the components from the DevExpress suite of controls. The design and development process was done in an agile way with the CEO, Director and myself working together to tease out useful functionality during the development process.
It proved an excellent example of iterative design and development and meant that we built only what was useful.
Partner Tracking
Having defined your sales offering, the next part of the process is to sell it. To give your sales force the tools it needs to win the business, which includes the tools to track the performance of the sales team itself. That's where Partner Tracking came in, allowing you to define teams, define sales milestones and assess the effectiveness of the team in converting prospects to sales.
As with Effectiveness Assessment this was a new component in the suite. It was developed using C# and the components from the DevExpress suite of controls. We employed an agile approach, keeping in mind usability and value above technical difficulty.
Enabler
Enabler was an application that profiled a manager against a set of core competencies, benchmarking the managers capabilities against the profile of the "ideal manager" and produced a report of specific actions to take to improve their effectiveness. The process is based around a 360 degree review of competence.
Outputs were in the corm of a radar chart on-screen and a printed report that offered feedback to the manager and key learning indicators to improve performance.
Performer
Performer was a suite of software tools to help individuals, line managers and organisations develop their performance using occupational standards. By keeping the code flexible, three versions of the product were produced covering Management standards, FENTO (Further Education National Training Organisation) standards and Business Link Standards.
By keeping the code generic, creating new 'products' was greatly simplified.
PMSuite
pmSuite was a software package aimed at senior management in an organisation to give them the tools to manage the performance of the organisation as a whole. It allowed management to spot areas of strength and weakness with a view to spreading best practice from the successful areas of the business to the struggling areas of the business.
It was similar in concept to Enabler, but scaled for larger organisations with more automation and improved reporting capabilities.
School Mentor
School Mentor was designed to enable school professionals at all levels of experience to look at their teaching skills, professional and management characteristics. The outputs were used as a guide to further training and to identify experience gaps.
Testimonials
Am I really any good?
Don't take my word for my abilities, take a look at other peoples opinions about me.
One very quickly runs out of superlatives with Steve. He is the cleverest person I know. He is highly innovative, passionate regarding the proper maintenance of agreed standards and protocols and establishes excellent relationships with our clients.
Steve is a rare developer resource who is able to provide a good breakdown of technical solutions for all audiences to understand... Steve understands the importance of project deliverable's both from a client and business perspective and shows a personal pride in ensuring the delivery schedules are met.
I have worked closely with Steve for his time with us and long before we formed our company. His technical ability far out-performs anyone I have known or met in companies we have worked with like IBM/EDS/Cap Gemini
Steven showed a great deal of commitment and skill when he worked with me. His attention to detail, comprehensive documentation and well thought out code, using very impressive technical standards meant that it was always possible to rely on the solutions provided being top notch. Steven is an asset to any company, at any level - if I were able to, I'd love to work with him again.
I have had the pleasure of working with Steven for several years in my role as CTO. He his one to the most multi-disciplined technically skilled developers I have known but what sets him apart is his eye for, and attention to detail, particularly when considering the user experience. I would absolutely not hesitate in recommending Steven.