Understand first
One likes to understand every detail before making a decision.
She can disappear into a book, study every page, then pick up a guitar and patiently find her way through a song.
Back to my work
My Journey Chapter Three
How I Solve Problems
I don't think the most important lesson I've learned in my career came from technology.
It came from people.
What fatherhood taught me
People can begin in the same place and find completely different ways forward.
As a father, I’ve always been fascinated by how differently people solve problems. Even growing up in the same house, with the same parents, the same opportunities, and the same encouragement, my two daughters couldn’t be more different.
Begin by making
The other follows her instincts with an infectious enthusiasm that says, “I have an idea, let’s go.”
She thinks with her hands, moving from sketch to paint to something she can build, often learning by leaping into the idea itself.
Neither approach is wrong.
They're simply different.
More often than not, they arrive at the same destination by taking completely different paths.
Over time I realized
Organizations aren't much different.
Everyone sees the business through a different lens.
How do the numbers connect?
What idea are we trying to protect?
How will the work actually happen?
What will make this sustainable?
How do all of these perspectives become one thoughtful decision?
The change in me
From having answers to asking better questions
Early in my career
I believed my value came from having the answers.
Eventually I realized
My real value came from asking better questions.
When something doesn't feel right
I don't quietly sit through the meeting.
If I believe we're solving the wrong problem, I'll say so.
If I think we're making assumptions that haven't been challenged, I'll ask the uncomfortable questions.
Not because I enjoy disagreement.
Because solving the wrong problem well is still the wrong outcome.
Something equally important
Sometimes I don't have the answer.
And that's okay.
Some of the biggest breakthroughs in my career happened because I walked down the hall and found someone who understood a part of the business better than I did.
I've learned just as much from finance managers as I have from engineers. From HR leaders. Project managers. Operations teams. Commercial leadership. Executives. Developers.
The moment you stop believing you have to be the smartest person in the room is the moment you become much better at solving problems.
One memory still stands out
A room full of talented people. Another spreadsheet every few minutes.
I remember sitting in a meeting where people were trying to estimate a large piece of work.
Nobody was arguing. Everyone genuinely wanted the right answer.
Updated labor rates
Different staffing assumptions
Newer salary information
Revised project timelines
The conversation slowly drifted away from the client and toward trying to figure out which spreadsheet everyone should trust.
Driving home that evening
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
The people weren't the problem.
The process was.
We were asking incredibly intelligent people to spend their time reconciling spreadsheets instead of solving business problems.
Instead of asking what software I should build
“What is making these people's jobs harder than it needs to be?”
That question changed the way I approached every project afterward.
Where I begin
Before I think about technology, I try to understand the day.
Whether I was helping finance, operations, project management, HR, executive leadership, or eventually my own consulting clients, I always began in the same place.
- 01
I listened.
- 02
I challenged assumptions.
- 03
I asked questions.
- 04
I looked for where frustration appeared during someone's day.
Only then did I start thinking about technology.
What that mindset made possible
The software mattered. But that wasn't the real success.
That mindset eventually led to commercial planning systems that brought labor models, staffing assumptions, rate cards, profitability rules, and financial guidance together into one experience.
The real success was watching conversations change.
Instead of debating formulas...
Teams started discussing clients.Instead of rebuilding estimates...
Leadership started making decisions.One afternoon, someone looked at me and said
“This is actually enjoyable.”
That may have been one of the best compliments I've ever received.
What good software should do
People spend thousands of hours inside business software.
It should help them think.
It should reduce stress.
It should remove friction.
Good software shouldn't simply automate work.
It should make work feel easier.
Looking back
I don't think my career has been about building software.
It's been about helping people do their best work.
Technology has simply been the tool I've used to make that happen.