And the more we've done this, the more we've helped teams trace the roots of their software problems to unexpected places. Software projects don’t just succeed on code quality or DORA metrics (though we are big fans of those things!). Software projects succeed on hard-earned judgements about short- and long-term tradeoffs, and risky honesty about what really matters to users. Software is a holistic enterprise and our clients need us to bring a broad perspective to their biggest challenges.
I feel incredibly lucky to lead 8th Light on the next part of our journey — to meet a wider scope of our clients’ needs as they work to build world-class software. As of today, I take the helm of 8th Light as CEO, with founder Paul Pagel taking on the role as President.
This year we’ve doubled the amount of executive consulting we’ve provided to clients, often acting as an interim Chief Technology Officer or Chief Product Officer. In some cases, we’ve continued to partner through project design and development. In others, we’ve earned the trust of our customers by showing them a path they can take on their own.
We’ve also hired first-class design leadership to strengthen our offerings in design research and user experience. On a recent project in health care, we designed and built a client’s first consumer-facing web application and we’re proud to have earned the simple but powerful compliment: “Thank you for your partnership.”
Finally, we’re continuing to build an incredibly talented workforce. Wherever our employees are in their career journey, we want their time at 8th Light to be one of tremendous energy and engagement. Inside 8th Light, we’re using phrases like “growing leadership at all levels” and “once an 8th Light, always an 8th Light” to capture the experience we’re building for our talented people.
If you’re already an 8th Light customer, I’d love to hear how we’re doing. Are we showing up as the leaders your team needs? What else can we be doing to ensure the overall success of your project?
Does your team have ambition? We get it. We do too. Let's collaborate.