I’m currently engaged as a full time employee at Yangaroo Inc. – where I lead a team of developers and product support professional in the construction and management of the most comprehensive leading edge digital distribution platform in the business.
That said, I’ve provided the following services to various clients over the years:
PROJECT / DEV CONSULTING
I’ve been brought in on a number of occasions to formulate or architect a project and lead it from requirements through to fruition.
I’ve always billed myself as an effective bridge between business and technology. In a consulting role, that is what I bring to the table. If a system needs to get built, I most often have the insights on whether you should be building or buying. I have a good sense of what is out there, what can be achieved given your budget and timelines and what direction you should be headed both in the short and long term.
I am interested in both the business and technical needs related to your project so I can adapt a mid to long term plan for building out a solution. I can help scult what your project should look like, hire the employees, consultants or resources to make it happen and then monitor it from fruition to completion. I can either do this as part of the project team or as an external consultant.
I like to think of my role as a General Contractor. You don’t hire me to fix your roof, plumbing, electrical, etc. I could definitely do the job, but there is someone who can likely do it better for cheaper. So my role is to come in, figure out who you need to call and what needs to get done and then direct them in the completion of the work.
I lead my teams with an iterative development approach – the focus being getting something tangible done quickly that is usable and meets your basic needs and evolving the solution with time as you get a better feel for your needs. I’ve had plenty of success with this approach, getting things done on budget and ahead of schedule.
If you have an interesting project and are looking for this kind of service, feel free to drop me an email. Let’s see if there is an opportunity for us to work together!
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS / CLEAN-UP
I’ve been asked to step into existing projects or organizations where things have gotten rocky or stopped dead in their tracks and there is a need to clean up processes, personnel and technical approaches towards a path success and project completion.
My old nickname was ‘The Cleaner’. It wasn’t only due to my propensity to keep things need and tidy – but also because I’ve been parachuted into a number of faltering projects and teams and, well…cleaned up! That can mean everything from altering strategies, development platforms, removing underperforming team members, adding key missing personnel and expertise or simply providing the guidance to the existing team to bring things back on track.
I provide this service either via hourly rates or flat rate per project. I’ve had experience in a number of different fields – everything from Public Sector to Healthcare to New Media – generally speaking the problems for each of those industries are unique but share similar threads.
People have likened my approach to a ‘bull in a china shop’…but those same people have been impressed with my ability to get the job done – and done well! While I have certainly ‘mellowed’ with experience and exposure to new projects, people and industries – I would definitely agree that I am the WRONG guy if you want someone to come in and glad hand you, make you feel good about things and move on. I would also suggest that I am the wrong person to work with if you offend easily. I WILL tell you what I think – of your approach, ideas, project, company, etc. There is obviously a right place and a right time for everything – but at the end of the day you are going to hear about it…that is, after all why you would hire me…isn’t it?
If you have an interesting project and are looking for this kind of service, feel free to drop me an email. Let’s see if there is an opportunity for us to work together!
SR&ED PREP
Given my experience working directly on SR&ED applicable projects, I’ve completed the submission process and associated documentation more than once. I am happy to help other learn how to successfully submit claims under this excellent federally run incentive program.
The SR&ED program is a federal tax incentive program, administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), that encourages Canadian businesses of all sizes, and in all sectors to conduct research and development (R&D) in Canada. It is the largest single source of federal government support for industrial R&D.
The SR&ED program gives claimants cash refunds and/or tax credits for their expenditures on eligible R&D work done in Canada.
You submit your SR&ED claim after your year end. During the year you should be keeping track of applicable hours and projects. Assuming that you are doing so, you fill out the T661 with the appropriate financial information, include information about the projects and submit the info to the government. Very generally speaking, you can receive a refund in the neighborhood of 35-40% of applicable expenditures depending on what province you are in.
Here is what the T661 looks like: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t661/README.html
The only area where I provide insights into the preparation of SR&ED claims is for IT/Software development oriented claims. You can get some sector specific guidance on submissions from here: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/txcrdt/sred-rsde/pblctns/sftwr-eng.html
A lot of people’s eyes glaze over when they see this stuff or they get nervous because these things can sometimes involve government auditors, reviewers and a whole whack of paper work.
I work with a number of customers and help them on an annual basis to prepare and submit their claims. In most scenarios (and my perfect engagement) involves me setting you up and advising on the proper documentation to keep, what is and is not applicable and completing a few examples for you.
Be wary of MOST SR&ED consultants. They are out to needlessly take a huge chunk of your return. They will say things like it costs you nothing…because they take a percentage of the actual return. I don’t see how that costs nothing. If I am entitled to a $100,000 return…and someone is taking 20% of that – that is a LOT of money! FYI – I work flat rate. Feel free to email me if you have any questions and I’ll see if I can help and if we both feel working together is the right fit (I’m also not interested in working with people that have ‘pretend claims’ – cause there are plenty of those as well!