How it works
Untangle the work, and the business starts to move.
- Step 1UntangleWe map every job with the people who do it. Then a written plan: the jobs AI should do, who checks each one, the ones that stay human, and which AI tools your staff may use.
- Step 2ExperimentAI gets a short trial on one or two of those jobs, with the people who do them. What doesn’t help is binned while that’s still cheap.
- Step 3BuildThe trial that worked goes in for real, and a named person checks it. You can see what it did, and undo it.
- ThenThe next oneThen the next job, and the next, each one checked.
Who you get
You get the person you met.
David Ashenden leads every engagement himself. He’s an all-rounder, so he does it all, from the plan to the build. When a job needs a specialist, and some do, we bring one in by name, on our paper, under our insurance.
And when you need more than Dave, we build out a resilient team just for your needs, from our pool of partners, all of whom we have worked closely with.
Subversive Ltd · Exeter · Est. 2013
Try it at home
Exercise 1 · 20 minutes
Untangle
Draw a line to every job that runs through you, then straighten one.
Exercise 2 · 20 minutes
Sort the jobs
Ten jobs, three boxes: what AI could take first, what to sort out first, and what stays human.
Then, the long read
The Skunkworks Protocol
How to build the thing everyone keeps talking about and nobody ships.
The record
A dull answer to an expensive problem is usually the right one.
- 75%fewer rounds of back and forth before a plan was agreed, by their own count. Twelve teams in one large IT firm had all been solving the same problem separately.
- 6 monthsfor work their own estimate said would take two years. The fix was dull: one shared set of parts that every team built from.
- 60,000page views in one hour on a click and collect system we built for a global client, with several businesses running on it at once. It stayed up.
Twenty-five years designing things people use
From Ordnance Survey to startups finding their feet.
- UnisysProduct experience architect, AI and emerging solutions, since 2023
- Ordnance SurveyLegacy systems to open source, in-house team trained
- MatterCofounder and head of product
- TablInterim CTO, then chief experience officer
- The Food CorporationHead of service design
All sounds very corporate?
Well, Dave has worked with solopreneurs, mentored MBA students and been in the founding team of several startups, and is working on two now.
He works in enterprise too, but it isn’t where he comes from. He has worked across all kinds of industries.
In a larger organisation?Starting something new?Looking for a non-executive director?
Recommendations
All of them on LinkedIn“Not the conference nonsense, but the reality.”
Six people who have worked with him, in their own words.
“David actually listens, which already puts him ahead of most people in enterprise AI. He gets what it really is too, not the conference nonsense, but the reality.”
A lot of it is admin with better marketing, and he doesn’t try to dress it up as something magical.
“In diverse roles ranging from CXO to acting CTO and operating in a fast-paced start-up environment, David proved himself a huge asset.”
He consistently delivered top-quality work for tough taskmasters and demonstrated a breadth of strengths with both the skill and passion to apply them effectively to help meet changing business needs.
“His attitude, knowledge and attention to detail soon helped bring things back online.”
From there Dave worked with us for 6 months on a consultant basis, always on hand to help with any problems, questions or challenges big or small.
“We use David for any key projects that we have and to also sense check thinking and direction, he has an excellent broad knowledge of tech.”
These projects were successful due to a combination of factors but key were David’s experience, knowledge, skill and work effort. I can’t praise him highly enough. I trust David implicitly.
“Dave worked just as effectively with the senior leadership team as with mentoring the junior staff.”
I was always impressed with Dave’s exceptionally broad skill set and his ability to work at all levels, from solving strategic problems to getting into the detail and rolling up his sleeves to get things done.
“His skills range from Art direction to hacking low level repositories to fix annoying bugs”
Having worked with Dave for over 15 years on and off in various roles and various configurations, I can only say one thing, he is a juggernaut of Digital knowledge and capabilities. His skills range from Art direction to hacking low level repositories to fix annoying bugs, he has caught problems that others haven’t even imagined exist and built solutions that were ahead of their time.
What it costs
From £950 a month.
For small and medium businesses in the South West, excluding VAT. London and larger firms from £1,500 a month.
The first weeks go on the untangling and a first trial. Whatever you decide next, you keep the written plan.
The long version, for small businesses1 of 3
How much of us do you need?
Partnerships
Starting something new? We’ll be your technology partner.
For founders with a venture and nobody to build it. We plan it and we build it, with you. Terms are open to a discussion, but it’s an offline one.
More for foundersWriting
All of itNotes from the studio.