Uses
The tools and books behind the work.
A categorized list of what I actually use. No affiliate links. No logos. One annotation per item.
Learning & delivery
Moodle·LMS for structured course delivery — the scaffolding that makes async teaching possible.
Microsoft Teams·Where most client sessions and team coordination happens in the region.
Zoom·For coaching sessions with clients outside the Microsoft ecosystem.
Notion·For drafts, field notes, and the thinking that precedes the writing.
Design & media
Figma·For visual thinking — frameworks, diagrams, and anything that needs to be drawn before it can be said.
Adobe Illustrator·For anything that needs to look intentional rather than accidental.
Adobe Photoshop·Occasional, reluctant, effective.
Analysis & planning
Microsoft Excel·Still the best thinking tool when the problem has numbers in it. I've built project tracking systems in it that I'm not entirely proud of.
Power BI·For communicating data to stakeholders who won't read a spreadsheet.
MATLAB·Engineering analysis. Less frequent now, but still occasionally useful.
Microsoft 365·The backbone of most enterprise environments I've worked in.
Confluence·For building documentation systems that other people will actually use.
Development & platforms
HTML / CSS·Enough to build things, not enough to call myself a developer. This is exactly the right amount.
Odoo·Implemented and ran Odoo deployments across the MENA region. I know it too well to be uncritical.
SharePoint·For knowledge management in larger organizations. Underestimated and underused.
Books that shaped how I work
The Goal — Goldratt·On systems thinking and constraints. Required reading before you're allowed to call a process broken.
The Coaching Habit — Bungay Stanier·Seven questions that do most of the work. I have complicated feelings about it and recommend it anyway.
Shape Up — Ryan Singer·On scoping work and making decisions at the right level. More applicable outside software than advertised.
Thinking, Fast and Slow — Kahneman·On decision-making and where it goes wrong. The book I return to most.
A Pattern Language — Alexander·On the structure of good environments, at every scale. An architectural engineering book that turns out to be about everything.
The Fearless Organization — Edmondson·On psychological safety. Made me a better lecturer and a more careful manager.