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Eight authorisation systems unified into one service for a UK property platform.
Read itMichael Card · fractional CTO · UK
Something in your technology isn't working. Start by naming it.
I run technology for companies that don't have a CTO, or shouldn't need a full-time one. Pick the sentence that sounds like your last month and I'll show you the engagement that looked like it.
17 engagements since 201127 case studies written up in full, mistakes included
Pick the one that sounds like your last month
Our agency keeps missing deadlines and I can't tell why.Project delivery & rescue Technology decisions keep landing on the wrong desk.Fractional CTO I'm the only one at this level and I need a second opinion.Architecture advisory We're buying a company and their code is a black box.Technical due diligence
Where I usually come in
Fractional Chief Technology Officer Services UK
£800–1,000 / day
Hands-on fractional CTO for UK businesses. Technology strategy, architecture, and team leadership at 1 to 3 days a
Technical Due Diligence
Fixed fee, scoped on the call
Get objective technical assessment for acquisition, investment, or partnership decisions. I evaluate architecture
Legacy Modernisation
Scoped per programme
De-risk your modernisation with expert planning, architectural leadership, and ongoing governance. I assess your
Architecture Advisory
£600–800 / day
De-risk critical architecture decisions with on-demand senior advice. Get peer-level technical depth for complex
AI-Augmented Development
£800–1,000 / day
Learn how to leverage AI effectively in your development process. Get proven AI-augmented practices for LLM integration
Project Delivery & Rescue
£800–1,000 / day
Critical project stuck? Need senior oversight for a complex build? Get technical leadership for projects that require
The pattern across all of them
I stay accountable for the decision
Most of these engagements involved building or rescuing something, not advising on it. If I recommend it, I am there when it ships.
I argue with the obvious answer
A shared library instead of a service. A strangler migration instead of a rewrite. Most of these engagements turned on refusing the first plan.
The team is better when I leave
Fifteen WinForms developers became full-stack engineers. A predominantly junior team learned to push back on AI output. That is the deliverable that stays.
3 of the 27
All 27, with the numbersWhat the first 30 minutes look like
You describe the symptom
No slides, no discovery deck. Ten minutes of what's actually happening and who's frustrated.
I tell you what I think it is
Including when it isn't a technology problem, and when you don't need me.
You get it in writing
A one-page note the next morning: what I'd do first, what it costs, what happens if you do nothing.
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The consumer spending risk that AI is quietly building
Most commentary on AI and financial markets focuses on the productivity upside. Corporate earnings, margin expansion, efficiency gains. That story is probably right in the short term. But it is only half the picture, and the second half does not look as clean.
Coaching a junior team on Claude Code without breaking their instincts
Junior developers adopting AI tools face a specific risk: they accept plausible-sounding output before they have the instincts to push back. Here is how I coached a team of nine through it without making them afraid of the tools or dependent on them.
“Working with Michael was an absolute pleasure. He was the border between the developers and the business and always managed to handle both sides' expectations and took the stress of the business on to himself to give the developers enough room to do amazing work. A great developer as well. Always a laugh, great personality, light hearted and I would definitely work with him again at a moment's notice.”
Thursday afternoons are usually free.
Book 30 minutesOr email hello@softweb.uk. I answer these myself.