Start with the actual work.
Understand the process, the people using it, and the parts that cause trouble before deciding what to build.
ABOUT / STEVEN BODNER
A systems admin.
A builder.
A solutions guy.
I like making useful things—and making the complicated stuff a little less complicated.
THE PERSON BEHIND THE TOOLS
I build from the
administrator’s side of the desk.
My background is in keeping real workplaces running: Microsoft 365, identity and access, devices, and the day-to-day problems that don’t come with a neat instruction manual.
That work also gives you a good eye for friction. The same information copied into several places. A process that depends on remembering twelve little details. A tool that technically works but makes everyone’s day harder.
Those are the things I like building around. Sometimes it’s an automation. Sometimes it’s a focused interface or a better way to organize information. The right answer is the one that helps someone do the work.
Useful first.
A little personality doesn’t hurt.
HOW I APPROACH A BUILD
Understand it.
Build it. Make it better.
No oversized platform for a small problem.
No clever feature without a reason to be there.
Keep people in control.
Make the important decisions visible. Automate repetition without hiding what will happen next.
Make it worth maintaining.
A useful tool should be understandable, testable, and practical to improve after the first version.
THE TOOLBOX
Systems knowledge.
Builder’s curiosity.
See how that comes together Got a process that could work better?
Let’s make it
less complicated.
Start with the problem. We’ll figure out what’s worth building.