My work includes the experience a customer sees and the machinery behind it: interfaces, applications, data, integrations, internal tools, and the processes people use to get work done.
I can help decide what to build, design how it should work, and carry that through implementation and launch. Sometimes the starting point is a product idea. Sometimes it’s a business held together by spreadsheets and repeated manual work, or an existing product that needs better design, stronger engineering, or a clearer operating model.
What I do
Product strategy and definition
I help turn an idea or business problem into a clear scope. That means understanding who the product serves, what they need to accomplish, what already exists, and which constraints matter. The work can include customer journeys, prototypes, requirements, technical assessments, and decisions about building, buying, or connecting existing tools.
Product, interface, and visual design
I design websites, applications, customer portals, and the interfaces people use to run a business. I work on information architecture, user flows, typography, layout, interaction, accessibility, and reusable design systems. Onboarding, permissions, errors, and recovery are part of that work too.
Software engineering and architecture
I build frontend and backend applications, data models, APIs, authentication, payments, integrations, and background processing. My work includes customer products, internal tools, multi-tenant platforms, and offline-capable applications. I can start with a new product or assess, repair, and extend an existing codebase.
Business processes and operating systems
I help design how work moves through a business: how inquiries are qualified, how customers buy and get onboarded, how work is assigned and reviewed, and how people handle approvals, delivery, exceptions, and support. I map the process, clarify responsibilities, and decide what needs a procedure, software, or a human decision. I can then build the supporting tools.
Automation and AI-enabled workflows
I connect services, move information between systems, process documents, and build assistance for research and recurring production tasks. For AI-enabled systems, I also work on data access, review checkpoints, execution history, and failure handling. The level of automation depends on the task and the consequences of getting it wrong.
Motion and product communication
I create product promos, explainers, ad creative, and animated demonstrations. The work connects the message, visual direction, product interface, and animation. Motion, please. provides a focused way to commission it, with its own intake, review, and delivery process.
Technical leadership, delivery, and operation
I lead work across product, design, and engineering: scope, architecture decisions, implementation review, contributor coordination, and release. My experience also covers deployment infrastructure, release automation, testing, monitoring, and production maintenance. For client engagements, my direct work, any additional specialists, and responsibility for launch and agreed support are defined around the project.
How I work
I start with the people involved and the work they need to accomplish. Then I examine the existing process, tools, data, and constraints before recommending what to change.
Some problems need custom software. Others need a clearer process, a better interface, or a connection between tools the business already uses. I prefer a scope that can be inspected and tested, with visible decisions and responsibilities.
The work should account for what happens after launch: administration, support, maintenance, and the next person who has to understand it. I use AI where it helps with research, design exploration, implementation, or verification. Human judgment and review remain part of delivery.
Experience behind the work
I started building for the web at 13, when I sold my first website. At 19, I designed and led front-end development for a national e-government service in Kazakhstan.
Since then, my experience has included client and fractional CTO work at Scoutbase on maritime safety software; employment at Lane on mobile release infrastructure; and employment and contract work at AuditBoard across enterprise application workflows, APIs, and infrastructure.
My own product work includes Xevol’s business software and agent workflows, Perko’s customer and staff operating interfaces, and the commercial and delivery processes behind Motion, please. These projects are at different stages of development and use. The full work record distinguishes owned products, client engagements, employment, and public-sector contributions.
My companies and interests
I build and own products through Thinking Systems. I also lead Prodmake, a separate design and technology agency where clients can commission product design, software, automation, and business-process work.
I write about products, small-company economics, institutions, attention, and the mechanics of an independent life. My Now page covers what I’m working on.