Rob Lucas

"But we just need something simple..." 👀 Famous last words before a software project spirals out of control! Here's what REALLY needs to happen before you kick off that bespoke software project: Define your ACTUAL problem 🎯 Not just "we need an app" - but what's genuinely broken? What's costing you money? What's making your team curse under their breath? Map your current process 📝 Even the ugly parts. Especially the workarounds Including Sharon's special spreadsheet that somehow keeps everything running Think 5 years ahead 🔮 How fast are you growing? What might change? Who needs to use this system? Get real about hidden costs 💰 Ongoing maintenance. Training time. Integration headaches. Future changes. Support costs Talk to your ACTUAL users 🗣️ Because Karen in accounts does things differently than what your management thinks happens... trust me 😅 The truth? A good bespoke software project starts way before the first line of code. Skip these steps and you'll join the "it seemed simple at first" club - and trust me, nobody wants to be in that club! 🙈 Want to avoid the common pitfalls of custom software development? Let's chat! #SoftwareDevelopment #BusinessSoftware #CTO

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Looking for a blog recommendation? If you haven’t visited the Daysium blog yet, now’s a great time to check it out. We’ve recently explored key topics like the UK’s split year treatment and non-dom changes to support your compliance journey. I particularly recommend reading our Senior Advisor, Paul Aplin OBE's latest post. He delves into the fascinating role of digital footprints in tax compliance—definitely worth a read. Here’s the link to Paul’s article: https://lnkd.in/e8Ns_8ZT I’d love to hear about your favourite blogs too, so feel free to share!

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I do love a good stat. Of the 654,000 interactions on our live platform last week, 40,800 were over our API. If your supplier doesn't offer open APIs included in the base product, and you're thinking "meh maybe we don't need em" then you are stuck in legacy la la land. API's bring the efficiency and interaction products need in a modern adaptive platform. That 1992 CSV FTP Ping Pong you are pretending works fine will bite you on the behind one day. If you'd like to learn more about how Rubixx interacts with third party systems, slide in my DMs or ask one of our clients who used to have whatever you have now.

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Following on from my post on vectorising Wikipedia yesterday, here's a blog containing links to the files. Have fun with it, and let me know if you find any interesting uses for the data!

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John Rouda and I covered so much in our conversation on his podcast - A Geek Leader - but, as usual, it was great to have a chat about how to have better conversations. We covered listening including asking genuine questions, carefully planning interactions, and using methods like 'Say what you See' and TDD for People. Even better, this is just one of many topics we covered! Listen in full and let me know what was most useful to you. https://lnkd.in/ePqHRebg

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Want to retire from an Omnis-based software business? Are you one of the many lone developers with a business based around an Omnis application that you develop and support? Are you thinking that you might like to retire one day? Perhaps soon? Whilst you may be hoping to sell your business, along with the Omnis application (and this does occasionally work out), the reality is that some applications die away when their original owner/developer retires. When this happens, customers of the Omnis-based software application can be left without support for an application which is crucial to running their business. Developers can find themselves putting off retirement because they don’t want to let down their customers. ***Omnis Legacy Service*** Why not talk to us about our Omnis Legacy Service? We will work with you to gain knowledge and understanding of your application, to document it for future support – and then we will either take over the support of your Omnis application or remain on stand-by to do so at a point in the future when it might become wanted or needed. ***A Legacy for both your Customers and your Loved Ones*** If and when we take over the support and development of your Omnis application, you will continue to receive a percentage of all revenues associated with your product. In the event of your death, we will continue to make these payments to your nominated recipient.

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I've recently finished the Dale Carnegie's book 'How to win friends and influence people... I find it an excellent and engaging read. Some things may be a little out of date, specifically from a British culture point of view, but the base idea is sound. Everybody wants to feel important, and this book is an excellent example of how to do just that, without lying, and avoiding those arguments that nobody will win. My next read is 'Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading and Public Speaking' by Mehdi Hasan. This book at times tends to be the antithesis of Carnegie's book. However, it is just as engaging and insightful...2 Chapters down on this already. What are other peoples favourite books when coming to getting buy in / influencing people? #PersonalDevelopment #ProfessionalGrowth #BookRecommendations #DaleCarnegie #HowToWinFriends #InfluencePeople #MehdiHasan #PublicSpeaking #DebatingSkills #Influence #SelfImprovement #LeadershipSkills #CommunicationSkills #ReadingList

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Our mission is to connect the dots. One outcome we aim to support is more joined-up government. #systemsthinking #joinedupgovernment #regenerate #climateaction

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We think our #FractionalGC offering is great but really all that matters is if our clients agree. We spoke to Stephen Reidy, the co-founder of Synq, to get his thoughts. Synq is a pioneering data reliability platform and were one of our early adopters. We've loved supporting their success to date. If you've got questions, book a call to find out more. Bill Cogan and Saman Harris are always happy to chat. #lawyers #generalcounsel #GC #Fractional

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"How are you working with AI?" is the question I've been asked most in the last 12 months by clients, peers and friends in the tech and digital community. Read on to hear from one of our engineers, Will, about what we do and how we do it...

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Want to grow your small business? Here are some clever ways you can do that by leveraging your technology. #SmallBizTips #BusinessTech https://lnkd.in/ekJPJimR

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Fantastic to see NUAR mentioned in the King's Speech briefing 😁 👑 "The [Digital Information and Smart Data] Bill will enable new innovative uses of data to be safely developed and deployed ... [including] National Underground Asset Register, a new digital map that is revolutionising the way we install, maintain, operate and repair the pipes and cables buried beneath our feet. It gives planners and excavators standardised, secure, instant access to the data they need, when they need it, to carry out their work effectively and safely."

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I've made this point before but it's becoming more and more stark. The people that should be dominating platforms like this are the people with the real hard skills to code, develop and implement solutions. Instead it's dominated by relentless strategy and sales conferences, posts , talks and forums. Never has the true tech engineer role been more diminished at a time when they are truly the only ones that can make the change happen. it's oddly unique to tech roles as well. It's like having a team of trained qualified architects and engineers but instead of them discussing their problems they send the marketing team out to find out what everyone else is doing. If I'm down for heart surgery I want to talk to the surgeon , the anesthetist , the senior nurse. Not the finance team. I'm not dismissing the finance team but the ones I want best informed and strategizing are the product owners and engineers. Firms with a defined tech product at their core need to be driven by the software engineers with finance , marketing , HR reporting into them. Then you become truly tech and innovation led.

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This is huge for us! When we say dashboards, you think, "Murh, so what?" Brilliant Dashboards are different—everything you previously could output to a report is now available on the screen—18 different chart types and feedback text at 5 different levels based on the respondents' answers and scores —for individuals, teams, 360s, and organizations. Drill down and user filtering are two big features that we deliver on screen that static reports can't. Huge!

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This months Rust Manchester is this Wednesday and we've got 2 great speakers: - Michael Jones: Leptos - A cutting-edge Rust framework for the modern web. - sean borg: My experience using Crux for an android app Using a Crux Rust core in an android app, how I handle multi-page with the elm model and dealing with ffi For more details and sign up: https://lnkd.in/eVpJvqHy #RustLang #Leptos #Crux #WebDevelopment #Android

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Very interesting Scottish government data map site that someone kindly introduced me to today - https://simd.scot/ Explanatory notes at https://lnkd.in/e4HFgdzg From the notes: "The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation is a relative measure of deprivation across 6,976 small areas (called data zones). If an area is identified as ‘deprived’, this can relate to people having a low income but it can also mean fewer resources or opportunities. SIMD looks at the extent to which an area is deprived across seven domains: income, employment, education, health, access to services, crime and housing."

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Devin CEO shares his provocative vision for the future of software development. A view I wouldn’t have believed 30 days ago…. What changed? "I think there's actually going to be way more software engineers, not fewer... but also I think the kind of job we'll be doing as engineers day-to-day is going to change… where it'll be more like being halfway between a product manager and a technical architect." What seemed futuristic a month ago now mirrors my recent experience in building with #Cursor, #Claude, #Replit and #V0. The future is more 'guide' than 'coder'. Key interview insights: 1. 🤖 Agent Coding Economics: AI agents as collaborative partners in the development process fundamentally changes the economic approach to software creation. - Cheaper, faster, and infinitely available code generation increases how many projects a company can tackle at once. - Lower hurdles on scalability and reusability to justify coding investment = more bespoke code tackling very specific or transient problems. These tiny gains compound. - Expect a Cambrian explosion of 5 to 10 person profitable, highly verticalized SaaS companies. "The #Toast of XYZ niche sub market" 2. 🧠 Evolving Skill Set: Developers need to pivot their focus from writing every line of code to: - Breaking down complex problems - Designing robust system architectures and anticipating edge cases - Crafting precise instructions for AI agents 3. 📊 Product Management Integration: The line between developer and product manager is blurring. Future developers will need to: - Deeply understand user needs - Translate business requirements into technical solutions - Prioritize features based on both technical feasibility and user value What are your thoughts on these predictions? Are you experiencing these shifts in your work? Link to full video here in comments. #FutureOfCoding #AIAgents #SoftwareDevelopment

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Vector embeddings enable machines to interpret and process vast amounts of information to better mimic humans and ultimately build more personalised customer experiences. How can they change a business? Read my blog for more … https://buff.ly/3WM3Wbe #VectorEmbeddings #reinteractive

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