Method. How I work, in ten principles.
No jargon, no slides. What I do during an engagement, what I refuse to do, and what you get out of it. If this sounds like you, we should get along.
The problem before the solution.
Requests often arrive disguised as solutions: "we need an app", "we need a chatbot". Before talking tools, I go back to what is really stuck, for whom, and what the status quo costs. The tool doesn't make the project. The framing does.
- In practice
- A first conversation about your situation, your teams and your users. No technology.
- What you get
- You don't pay to solve the wrong problem.
Translate, don't take sides.
Creatives and developers often say the same thing in different words. One side talks intent, the other constraints, and both are right on their own turf. That's where my work starts: a shared language, then decisions.
- In practice
- I listen to each side separately, then we meet around a mock-up that gets everyone to agree on the same thing.
- What you get
- Meetings that decide, instead of "let's circle back".
Prototype before you promise.
One testable prototype beats ten steering committees. As long as an idea lives on a slide, everyone pictures it differently. Once you can click on it, the conversation changes.
- In practice
- A clickable mock-up or prototype in a few days, shown to five real users. Not a quarter of specifications.
- What you get
- You know whether the idea holds before committing the big budget.
Frame the AI.
Otherwise it frames you. And your budget too. In most teams, AI is already there, often without anyone deciding it. The question is no longer "should we?" but "what for, with which data, and where?".
- In practice
- We list actual uses, look at where the data goes, and choose between cloud, local or hybrid with eyes open.
- What you get
- Clear rules for your teams, and AI that serves instead of costing.
The simplest thing that works.
The right answer is rarely the most impressive one. A well-designed spreadsheet often beats a custom platform, and a two-hour workshop sometimes fixes what software wouldn't. I look for the lightest option that actually works.
- In practice
- Before every recommendation, one question: can we make it simpler, cheaper, easier to maintain?
- What you get
- Less spending, less lock-in, and tools your teams can keep alive.
Test it for real, on me first.
What I recommend, I've tried on my own projects first. Not on you. Media, tools, interactive fiction: that's my testing ground, where my mistakes cost me, not you.
- In practice
- First-hand feedback, with the limits and the numbers, not promises from a brochure.
- What you get
- Proven advice, from someone who knows where things break.
Short and selective.
Short engagements, few clients at a time. I'm also an innovation consultant at EuraCreative: LesWWW runs on chosen time. I take few projects, and I choose them.
- In practice
- One point of contact from start to finish: me. No junior parachuted in after signing.
- What you get
- My full attention, not a slot between two meetings.
A decision, not a report.
An eighty-page report often ends up in a drawer. A successful engagement ends with a clear choice: go on, pivot or stop. Why, what, which way.
- In practice
- At the end, a direction in black and white and a roadmap your teams can follow without me.
- What you get
- You leave autonomous. The goal is not for you to need me.
Know when to say no.
Sometimes the best deliverable is a well-argued no. It costs less than a regretted yes. That goes for your projects and for mine: if I'm not the right person, I'll tell you, and try to point you to someone who is.
- In practice
- Straight opinions, including when they go against the initial request.
- What you get
- An outside view that protects your budget instead of consuming it.
- Tongue in cheek
Never on Fridays.
Well, sometimes. We don't ship on a Friday at 5 pm, we don't manufacture urgency to look indispensable, and we keep a pace that leaves room to think. It's also the name of my blog: no coincidence.
- In practice
- A realistic schedule from day one, and deadlines that hold.
- What you get
- Less stress, fewer mistakes, and quiet weekends. For you and for me.
If this speaks to you, let's talk.
Two or three lines of context are enough: what's stuck, what you're aiming for. I read everything and reply myself.