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B&Q's First DIY.com

Straight out of university, I connected with a small software house in London through an online business networking forum, joining as the sixth person in the company.

My career in IT begun in computer retail, then, following my dream of being a software developer, a short period of relational database programming - RPG/400 for IBM AS/400s - before deciding to attend university as a mature student.

Joining at the height of the dotcom period; we grew quickly to sixty people before the crash, when my million dollars of share options then vanished into thin air.

I worked on some pioneering projects, including the company’s own product, RemoteApps. This was the first modular, scalable, web app framework with integrated Content Management, Commerce, and CRM functionality.

Screenshot of B&Q’s first diy.com website

First Realtime Payout Horse Betting Site

Another project of firsts, this was also a lesson in entrepreneurship for me. Commissioned by on course bookmakers to build the first online horse racing site which paid out once the race ended with no human interaction required, much of my involvement was in designing the integrations, and learning domain-specific algorithms like Rule 4 for horses not running.

From visiting the SIS studios (Sports Information Systems) where there’s rows of screens and people typing in all the information as it happens so we could gain an understanding of how the data feeds are produced; to designing the first Java language interfaces with the payment systems - WorldPray and Datacrash as we called them back then - I enjoyed the more analytical side of the project than just producing code required to display products in a catalogue.

During the project we received a call from one of the big betting shop companies saying their main competitor had publicised the launch date of their online site so they had also done the same. They were, however, very behind schedule and had heard we were quite close to having a working product and wanted to do a deal. The on course bookmakers declined with the belief the technology was their competitive advantage, whereas brand equity along with vast resources is more often than not the winner. This is especially true on projects like this where there is no particular IP, and those who own any you may require talk to the highest bidder. Which is why we don’t see the 2bet site around today, even though technically it was first past the post.

Photo of racing horses crossing the finish

World's First Online Car Configurator

There was a time when you couldn’t while away the hours choosing between peacock blue and cherry blossom paint, along with figuring out what the different upholstery materials were for your new car - all you could do in terms of interaction was order a brochure. Volkswagen broke the mould by creating what is now the mainstay of every car manufacturer’s website.

I remember the pitch clearly - sitting between two sales reps from large consultancies explaining how our integrated, modular, scalable, web application framework would be perfect for the project, likening it to the engine of a car.

Pointing out the only solution the consultancies could offer were packaging other peoples products, each with their own associated licence fees plus costly, time-consuming integrations which couldn’t easily adapt as requirements grew and changed, I managed to convince digital agency TribalDDB we were the partners to deliver this groundbreaking project. And we did.

This was the first web project I controlled from beginning to launch, which was crucial to deliver on time no matter what due to the huge advertising spend with non-movable dates.

I’m very honoured and proud to have been a part of this project and web history here!

Screenshot of Volkswagen’s car configurator

VIP Nightclub Events

Apparently there’s a time in every web developer’s life when they “roll their own” Content Management System, and this was mine! After redundancy a friend introduced me to an ex-Olympic Swimmer and entrepreneur who had a nightclub promotion business.

In an industry where the turnaround of staff is high, he had problems maintaining and growing his mailing list. I created a system which staff had to use in order to send invites, and to receive payment for their work. This solved his problems, and in return I remember quite a few times enjoying his clients establishments… even dancing next to Naomi Campbell!

After this project finished I decided to return to Essex and rejoined the online networking forum where I’d met my previous employer. I discovered its funding by the DTi had ended, and a company called Ecademy had bought it. They’d rebuilt it using an Open Source framework called Drupal, a system, and community, I ended up becoming very familiar with over the next two decades!

Screenshot of BelugaBlues website - two girls dancing in a club

Oriental Food Ingredients

Now back in Essex, I decided a good way to find projects would be to organise the local Ecademy networking meetings, the online business forum I was an active member of.

My assumptions were correct and led to me learning my first hard lesson in self-employment - always ask what the budget is! Supamax were an oriental food ingredients supplier who had stalls at universities and colleges, with foreign students being their main customer base.

Whilst I’d seen Drupal in action on the business forum, I’d also discovered there were many of these Open Source frameworks, and the one I backed at the time was called XOOPS.

They also wanted to sell online, which given the large amount of products and processes they had would’ve been quite the task. Knowing life is defined by what you say no to, and not feeling confident enough in the equity deal he offered I declined the opportunity, built them what they needed to hopefully grow to the next level and gain more resources for such an entrepreneurial endeavour, and moved on.

Open Source Software Advocacy

By now I’d become a huge advocate of Open Source Software as it gave me the ability to provide enterprise level software functionality to small businesses, levelling the playing field.

I was honoured when asked to build the informational site LinuxVAR for the UK retail market and whilst I built it using the XOOPS Open Source framework, it’s actually the site which ended up making me move to Drupal!

A couple of years later I saw the site had been rebuilt in Drupal, which finally made me look “under the hood” of Drupal - which wasn’t a system many could gain an easy start with - and realised immediately how powerful it was, outstretching anything the system I provided back in the “dotcom days” to clients paying hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Easy Airport Parking

Living in Essex I was close to Stansted Airport and at a time where many companies rented out fields from farmers which they would use as car parks, picking them up and dropping people at the airport so the customers had a smooth trip and never saw where the cars were parked.

Through the networking group I met the owner of one of these businesses, and had teamed up with another member who did graphic design, and thus my projects began to look a lot nicer!

Screenshot of the Stansted Easy Parking website

Supporting Triathletes

I’d started to use and talk about the Open Source Drupal framework, and through my networking efforts I was contracted to develop a Facebook application for Mazda with a Drupal backend.

Due to the amount of networking meetings I’d attended and organised where we always seemed to end up in the back room of a pub with dodgy internet connections, or in coffee shops with all the noise around, I’d had a “vision” of creating a network of Open Source Coworking Cafes which could also act as a “home” for the largely invisible world of Free/Libre Open Source Software.

This project provided me with the funds to move to Brighton where I believed it would be an ideal place to start such a venture with its mix of technical, artistic, and alternative cultures.

Celebrity Gossip Mag

When I landed in Brighton I went to every networking meeting I could find, and was particular about saying I was a “Drupal guy” as opposed to “Web Developer”, because in Brighton you didn’t have to look far to find the latter!

With the rise of Drupal and its more in-depth technology, Drupal people were harder to find, so I also founded the local Drupal User Group in Brighton, which became the largest in the UK.

Through my efforts I was asked to deliver the rebuild of celebrity gossip magazine HolyMoly! from Java to Drupal.

More complicated a project than I could handle alone, I subcontracted another more advanced developer, and thus begun my journey into growing a business larger than just myself.

Cover image of the first Books for Keeps magazine from 1980

Children’s Book Mag

Launched in 1980, the UK’s leading, independent children’s book magazine, has reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children. Sir Philip Pullman, CBE, FRSL called Books for Keeps “The most important periodical in the world of British children's books.”

With over 12,500 reviews and more than 2,000 articles including interviews with the top children’s authors and illustrators, Books for Keeps had a big problem. Although they were the first to ever star rate children’s books, which caused a certain amount of uproar at the time, they did not have much in terms of funding to keep up with the times and move their database completely online.

I learned another hard lesson in business here because even though I did know the budget, I decided to take on the project anyway because I believed it was important for this to be online.

For decades, the founder had typed in all the details of the thousands of books they had reviewed. This ended up taking months to clean up, however I am very proud of the end result, which still powers the site many parents and school teachers use on a regular basis.

Screenshot of Books for Keeps website home page

Disney Screenings

As more digital agencies began to use the Drupal framework for their projects they often needed assistance when it came to more complicated technical challenges.

One such example is when Disney Screenings wanted to give free tickets away to readers of a national newspaper, printing unique codes on each copy of the paper. They also wanted to be able to track the usage of these codes.

This was my first opportunity to use the native Drupal Commerce functionality, which had grown out of the Ubercart project, and now powers sites such as Lush cosmetics and Cartier watches.

Utilising the coupon module I solved Disney Screenings problems, they were able to see which coupons were used and where, and thousands of people enjoyed a free trip to the cinema!

Disney’s the Beauty and the Beast dancing together

Toonix

Working alongside another Brighton digital agency, I was involved in the Toonix project for the Cartoon Network. An online environment where players could create their own characters and customise them, Drupal powered the backend and I provided the integration design between Drupal and the front end.

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Councils Sharing Code

By far the project I’m most proud of, the work we began over a decade ago is now a public digital asset, saves millions of taxpayers pounds, and is called LocalGovDrupal.

After two years of both attending and organising meetings bringing councils together to encourage them to share common code, I was approached by Jack McAngus from Brighton & Hove City Council to help them migrate from an old system based on Cold Fusion to Drupal.

I was keen for them to be introduced to the community, because I knew if they went direct to any other digital agency, the agency would simply sell them their employees time, and it is highly unlikely we would be in the position we are today with the existence of LocalGovDrupal. I may not have a big house and fancy car, but I do have the knowledge I did what I felt was the right thing to do.

I was deeply saddened when I heard not long after that Jack had passed away due to a brain tumour. In memory I have posted here the short promotional video featuring him I produced from a small amount of funding I received from the Drupal Association in order to run a local event which we didn’t end up needing because we managed to gain sponsorship to cover costs.

My ex-BBC friend who helped create the video said Jack was like a rabbit in headlights as didn’t want to be in front of the camera but knew how much it meant to represent the public sector so did his best and we were all very grateful for his input.

I also make a cameo appearance, although I was about twice the weight I am now in it…

First Community Elected Director, Drupal Association

The Drupal Association is the non-profit organization focused on accelerating the Open Source Drupal project, fostering the growth of the community, and supporting the project’s vision to create a safe, secure, and open web for everyone.

In 2012 they opened up two seats on the Board of Directors for members of the community, one of which I was honoured to win as due to my community involvement I gained much support and received the most votes!

During my time on the board I focused my efforts on setting up the Drupal Marketing Group. I also enjoyed the opportunity to tick off a life goal by visiting San Francisco as one of the board retreats was held there where we shared our experiences and helped shape the future goals of the association.

Photo from the Drupal Directors retreat with us all sitting round a table and one via the web

uView Augmented Reality App

A decade before Apple PR their AR (Augmented Reality), I delivered the technology which powered AR for PR to celebrate the launch of Grrr!, the Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary greatest hits album, the world’s biggest music AR campaign to date.

As well as seeing a virtual 3D animated gorilla when pointing your phone at one of thousands of locations around the world, I built the Drupal back-end which served the content to Universal Music’s uView mobile AR application where you would also see the tongue and lips logo in 3D when pointing your phone at the Rolling Stones magazine.

“Decoupled” Drupal, as it is referred to when it is serving as a back-end content management system, is a particular strength and powers many large projects including the New York MTA signs. With Drupal, the MTA can now use the same system that powers its website to push content and data to 1,800 digital signs in more than 400 stations in New York City.

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Nickelodeon Junior Create

Another fun project, providing the backend to an interactive web application for children with Drupal playing the role of content, and asset, management, as well as interfacing with a postal service.

With an integrated parental approval process, this colouring app posted a printed copy of the line art, along with the colouring in the children had completed online, to their home address.

Data security risks meant Drupal was the ideal solution, with its worldwide security team comprising of community members from business and governmental institutions. They ensure standards of the highest level are adhered to, as well as collaborating effectively, dealing appropriately with issues as they arise.

Multi-region, Multi-currency eCommerce

PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is one of the most recognised project management methods and practitioner certification programmes in the world. The Prince2.com website provides a range of training programmes in various formats to many countries, and I built the backend which powers this high-profile multi-regional commerce website.

Quite a complicated site, the data for the available courses comes in from external feeds and is then converted into products in order to be made available for sale through the website.

For the in-person training, attendee registration functionality is created and appropriate information is sent out in a timely manner for attendees.

The site automatically detects which country the site visitor is from, showing the relevant products available. The commerce process also varies widely according to regions and taxes.

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Ticket Booking Integration

Being a big fan of brutalism and theatre, it was an honour to spend some time assisting the national treasure that is the National Theatre.

Their ticket booking workflow was built in Drupal and I helped them understand what was going on underneath the hood so they could adapt it to their growing needs.

I enjoyed seeing behind the scenes at the iconic venue, and even got to see a show which was broadcast live to other theatres as part of a new initiative increasing accessibility of the arts.

Screenshot of The National Theatre website

Sustainable Open Source Software Solutions

Integrated, Easy-to-Use, Al-enabled Content Management, CRM & eCommerce

25 years architecting & delivering modular, scalable, integrated, Content Management, Commerce & CRM web systems

I deliver innovative open-source solutions with my extensive experience across a wide range of industries, including retail, sports and entertainment, travel and tourism, non-profit, healthcare, higher ed, media and publishing, and government.

Here is a timeline of select highlights from my journey: