Insights

Articles, guides and podcast appearances from Tim Winstanley: what forty years in technology teaches you about small businesses, software and AI.

Latest from Tim

• We used to have three oracles. Nobody noticed when we ran out.

  We thought we were too busy for new AI and software work, so we pointed AI at ourselves to find the leak. It wasn't workload. It was an oracle problem.

  September 2026

• All work and no play: applying my AI skills to something a bit different

  How to get ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to write a running plan worth having: switch off the flattery, give it a role, make it ask first. With the prompt.

  August 2026

• Half of UK businesses can't see the point of AI. They're not wrong to feel that way.

  The Government's own research says 51% of UK businesses see no use for AI. Three reasons that's a reasonable conclusion, and the one question that changes it.

  July 2026

• We paid for all of it. We used a fraction of it.

  What replacing a commercial PSA with 40,000 lines of our own code saved, what it costs in responsibility, and why build-versus-buy has moved for small firms.

  July 2026

• From Soldering Iron to Artificial Intelligence

  Twenty-five years from repairing hardware to building AI tools for small businesses in Worcestershire.

  March 2026

Practical guides

• Vibe coding: the risks you can't see

  The adversarial review prompts we use to pressure-test AI-generated code — and why a clean security scan still isn't a correct system.

  June 2026

• How to choose an AI automation partner

  The kinds of provider out there, and the seven questions worth putting to any of them — including us.

  May 2026

Podcast appearances

• Ctrl Alt Dev: Episode 18: Embracing AI and Software Evolution (opens in a new tab)

  Forty years in technology, and what AI actually changes for a small business. The article below was written from this conversation. Read the article →

  March 2026

• Ctrl Alt Dev: Episode 36: The Invisible AI Watermark and the Corporate Compliance Time Bomb (opens in a new tab)

  Back on the show to pull apart AI watermarking: what Article 50 of the EU AI Act means for the documents a business writes with AI, and the compliance risks nobody has priced in.

  September 2026