What it is for

Sometimes what is needed is not something I do. Real infrastructure, a large migration, a system that has to stay up at night with somebody to call at three in the morning: that is work for a team and a company, not for an independent professional.

Saying yes anyway would be the fastest way to sink the project and lose the relationship. Saying no and nothing else leaves the person who asked exactly where they were.

How it works

First we work out what is actually needed, because the initial request almost always describes a solution rather than a problem. Then I write a project brief — what it has to do, what it must not do, which constraints are real and which are habits — that you can send to several suppliers without explaining everything again each time.

From there I go through my network and propose whoever seems right, written down together with the reason. Not “a good supplier”: that supplier, for this project.

The network

They are structured IT companies, with Microsoft and Google certifications, doing the things I do not do: infrastructure, managed cloud, security, projects that take several pairs of hands.

The names are not written on this page, and that is deliberate: naming a company means declaring a commercial relationship, and it is done with their consent. If your project reaches that point, you get the names.

How I get paid

The awkward part, said upfront: pointing you at somebody else is still work, and how it is counted has to be clear from the start. What never happens is that you pay for the same hour twice, or that I receive anything without your knowing.

I stay in the middle, if it helps

In the first meetings the difficulty is not technical: it is that both sides use the same words for different things. If you want me there I am, translating, and I read the offers before you sign.

Then I get out of the way, which is the point of this service.