About
Dad first. Systems builder always.
I am Will, a ServiceNow architect, governance advisor, and systems builder based in Aotearoa New Zealand. I design platforms, policies, and tools that help people work with clarity and confidence. My work sits at the intersection of technical engineering, risk and governance, and human-centred design.
I am comfortable across a wide technical spread, including Python, Rust, Ruby, and C, and I have spent years working across Windows, Linux, and macOS environments. That range shapes how I think about portability, interoperability, and choosing the right tool for the job.
But before any of that, I am a dad. A proud one.
Being a father is the lens through which I see the world, the anchor that shapes my values, and the reason I care so deeply about systems that actually support people.
Fatherhood Is Where My Systems Thinking Began
Raising a child with vision impairment and neurodiverse needs has taught me more about design, accessibility, and resilience than any professional training ever could. Parenting in this space means constantly adapting, constantly learning, and constantly advocating. It means seeing how fragile many systems are and how transformative they become when they are built with empathy.
It has made me:
- more patient
- more intentional
- more aware of invisible barriers
- more committed to designing environments where people feel safe, capable, and understood
Fatherhood did not just influence my work, it fundamentally reshaped it.
My Own Neurodiversity Journey
Alongside parenting, I am exploring my own neurodiversity, including a likely ADHD diagnosis. Understanding how my brain works has been grounding and clarifying. It has helped me recognize the strengths I used to treat as quirks: hyperfocus, pattern-spotting, and rapid problem-solving, alongside challenges I used to push through without language for them.
This journey has made me more compassionate with myself, and more attuned to the different ways people think, learn, and thrive.
It has also made me a better dad, and a better designer of systems.
What I Build
Most of my work centers on ServiceNow architecture, governance, and risk, especially where platforms need to scale without losing clarity or purpose. For me, governance has never just been about policy and controls. It is also about leading people well, supporting healthy teams, and creating the kind of culture-led agile leadership that helps delivery stay accountable without losing trust, momentum, or humanity.
Alongside that, I like building software across Python, Rust, Ruby, and C, with a strong cross-platform instinct shaped by years on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Some of that takes the form of low-level systems experiments, some of it becomes interface ideas and TUIs, and all of it is grounded in the belief that accessibility, culture, and lived experience matter just as much as technical neatness.
I believe good systems are quiet. They get out of the way and let people do their best work.
What I Value
Family sits at the centre of everything I do. From there, the values that keep showing up are clarity, empathy, craft, playfulness, and resilience. I want communication to be honest, design to be understandable, and systems to feel trustworthy without becoming rigid.
A lot of that comes from parenting and from better understanding my own neurodiversity. Those experiences have made me care even more about the details that help people feel safe, capable, and included.
Beyond Work
Outside architecture and governance, I am usually still making something. Sometimes that means experimenting across Python, Rust, Ruby, and C, or playing with OS concepts and terminal user interfaces to see how familiar modern conveniences might feel in a different form. Sometimes it means naming kernels after Bluey jokes and writing about systems, culture, and neurodiversity.
It also means paying attention to the parts of life that make everything else richer: cooking, sharing good food, listening to music, and enjoying good coffee, good beer, and the occasional whiskey. I care about ancestry and identity too, and I spend as much time as I can with my family, who keep me grounded, inspired, and laughing.
I am always learning, always building, always trying to make things a little clearer and a little kinder for my tamariki (kids), for myself, and for the people who use the systems I create.