Clarity and direction in complex problems - see the Wood for the trees

I help founders and leadership teams see what’s happening, understand the trade-offs, and find a practical way forward.

Start a conversation

20 minutes. No charge. No pitch.

Portrait of Dave Wood

When to bring me in

When the way forward isn’t obvious.

Some situations that might sound familiar.

  • Delivery has slowed and you can’t get a straight answer as to why.
  • Your engineers want to rewrite it, and you can’t tell whether that’s right.
  • You’re being told to “do AI” and can’t separate what’s real from what’s noise.
  • You need senior technical judgement, but not another full-time hire.

How I help

A clearer picture. A practical way forward.

I work out what is actually happening, name what is getting in the way, and set out a practical way forward.

In plain language, with the trade-offs visible. You work directly with me: no bench, no account manager, no handover to a junior.

Most engagements begin with a short, fixed-scope piece of work, so you have a clear picture and a recommendation before committing to anything larger.

Where I go deep

The detail matters.

Experience across the technology and the people who build it.

Leadership & Coaching

  • Engineering leadership
  • Team & organisation design
  • Coaching & mentoring

AI & Developer Tooling

  • Agentic development
  • AI-assisted engineering
  • AI readiness

Mobile & Real-Time Software

  • iOS & Swift
  • Mobile architecture
  • Video & media technology

Data & Analytics

  • Customer insight & segmentation
  • Data in products & operations
  • Integration & ETL

Track record

Experience that makes a difference.

  • Led mobile development of a bank’s first fully in-app home loan, reducing approval turnaround from days to as little as 20 minutes.
  • Built a data warehouse covering 500,000 customers for segmentation, operations and marketing.
  • Grew strong collaboration, engagement and high trust across a team of 30 direct and indirect reports.
  • Scaled engineering leadership capability, coaching senior engineers from individual contributor to engineering management.
  • 24 years of industry experience, including over 11 years of independent product delivery.
  • Launched GoVJ in 2015 to a global community of performers and students in visual media.

Let’s talk

Start with a conversation.

20 minutes. No charge. No pitch.

Available for fractional engagements or fixed-term contracts.