I run a real software consultancy and use AI to optimise our organisation and our clients’ organisations.
I'm James. I've spent my career in technology roles across large enterprises and government. I'm not a software engineer in the pure sense - more a mongrel mix of architect, project manager, consultant, builder, developer and team lead. I get deep into the code, but my strength is seeing the full picture, architecture to delivery.
I was the first employee at Eighty20 Solutions, a Microsoft Partner that grew to 100+ people in a few short years. That experience gave me the foundation to start my own consultancy.
I founded and lead Accelerate Tech, a Microsoft Partner that went from a COVID-era solo bet to 30 staff in 5 years. We ship automation, integration, reporting and AI for government, corporate and enterprise organisations across Australia.
Most AI advice comes from people selling courses, who just learnt it the other week. Every framework on this site comes from things we’ve actually built and run in production, which means we’ve also broken them and had to fix them.
Most AI content tells you why AI matters - features and hype, not how to use it in your business in a meaningful way. I'd rather show you how it works.
I'm not a content creator. I'm a CEO and founder running a full-time technology services business, trying to find time to share what I'm learning about AI-assisted development in secure environments.
There's plenty of content showing you how to spin up a prototype over a weekend and run it locally. The missing part is everything after: making it secure, reliable and maintainable, then getting people to use it. That's the gap I want to fill.
AI tooling moves fast. Copilot, Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry, GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex CLI, Claude Code. They all have a place, and knowing the right tool for the job matters more than picking a favourite. Knowing how to architect solutions, and where and how to host them, matters just as much.
Built in public. The wins, the failures, and everything in between.
I'm rebuilding how Accelerate Tech runs day to day, with AI tooling in every corner of a real consulting firm.
What that looks like in practice:
- Custom MCP servers connecting Claude Code to Dynamics 365 CRM and Microsoft 365.
- JARVIS, an AI executive assistant that manages my calendar, email, CRM, tasks, and daily briefings through Claude Code.
- Enterprise AI delivery for government and corporate clients using Azure AI, Copilot Studio, and the Power Platform.
- Build Software with AI, a course on planning, building, deploying and supporting AI-built software on Azure.
- Claude Code running inside the business itself: operations, sales, delivery, finance.