This site is all about my work as an expert in inspirational technical leadership, as an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Using my 21 years of experience as a senior technical leader and as a consultant to over 200 companies—and a set of clever management techniques called Action Science—I help companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes.
My many services include:
To learn more, you can watch me in action, check out my biography, see my upcoming events, or see my latest offerings.
The Squirrel Squadron, my community of tech and non-tech executives learning together, has just celebrated its one-year anniversary! With over 1000 participants from around the world, we have CEOs, CTOs, CMOs, Heads of Product, Sales Directors, and many more leaders from every industry and organisation type. The community gets together at free weekly events virtually and in person, plus there's a forum for discussion of your questions and puzzles with me and knowledgeable community members. Join for free—it's my way of giving back.
I collaborate frequently with Jeffrey Fredrick, most notably on our book Agile Conversations, now available everywhere. We argue that the main reason organizations aren’t effective is that they forget to share valid information, have difficult conversations, and build relationships. We show how to use techniques from Action Science to have the five key conversations of highly productive teams. Learn more and order a copy.
If you’re interested in my personal rather than professional pursuits, check out my research in mathematics and computer science, my open-source projects, and personal interests such as my 600-year-old home in Folkestone.
When Squirrel began working with us, the engineering team was full of talented and committed developers who lacked leadership and confidence. He helped to transform them into an energised, highly-focused team who now deliver high-quality product better and faster than I could have imagined.
—Paul Joyce, founder, Geckoboard
I see a lot of tech due diligence reports, and this one was exceptionally thorough, detailed, and most valuable of all, opinionated.
—Stefan Tirtey, Managing Director, Commerz Ventures
Squirrel was very quickly able to identify a number of areas where we could improve development processes and leadership at Nested. Over three months he helped us implement Elephant Carpaccio and refocus on responding to changing business needs rather than following a defined plan - this was invaluable in a business which is growing rapidly while simultaneously iterating on its business model. Squirrel also worked with leaders and other key people across the product and technology teams to make major improvements in time management and strategic focus.
—Phil Cowans, co-founder, Nested
