The most expensive software mistake you can make is building the wrong thing.
I help you figure out what to build before we build it.
Let’s talk about your project.
What I Do
I design and build custom software: desktop applications, web platforms, and the tools that automate the work that is slowing your business down.
I have been doing this for nearly 40 years, across industries, across continents, and across projects that ranged from a single grooming salon in Southern California to an international commission restoring property rights to hundreds of thousands of war refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The technology changes. The process does not.
Already Have Software That Needs Help?
Not every project starts from nothing. A lot of my work is repairing and maintaining applications that are already running a business: Microsoft Access databases, Excel and VBA tools, Visual Basic applications and SQL Server systems, often after the person who built them is no longer available.
If something is crashing, slowing down, or simply no longer keeping up with the way you work, it can usually be fixed without replacing it.
How I Work
Most developers want a specification handed to them. I work differently.
The most valuable part of what I do happens before a single line of code is written. I sit down with you, ask the right questions, and help map out exactly what needs to be built and why. By the time we get to development, we both understand the problem clearly enough that there are no surprises.
If you have a problem you can describe but cannot yet fully specify, you are exactly the kind of client I work best with.
Selected Work
Commission for Real Property Claims, Bosnia and Herzegovina A desktop system that collected over 319,000 property claims from displaced persons and refugees following the Bosnian war, automating the resolution process through to the production of legal certificates.
IFES Election Management System, Sarajevo The software that managed Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first post-war election, from voter registration through vote tabulation to live results presentation to the international media.
PETSAppeal A web-based pet care management platform covering the entire lifecycle of a pet across every service provider who cares for it, built by someone who has worked in the industry for over two decades.
Group-Loop A smart round-robin scheduling platform, live and generating revenue, that grew out of a single client’s scheduling problem into a product used by teams and communities of all kinds.
todd.penland.net A custom WordPress platform built to solve a problem no plugin could solve: a persistent, uninterrupted audio experience across an entire website.
The Short Version
I have built systems for post-conflict governments, international election commissions, federal agencies, pet care businesses, real estate networks, and musicians. I have led teams and worked alone. I have shipped software that has been in continuous operation for over twenty years.
What I have not done is build something and walk away from it.
If you have a complex problem that needs careful thinking before careful building, I would like to hear about it.