What We’ve Been up to: April 2026

Growing the Team

We’re on track with our plans for 2026. Dom and Uzair joined us at the beginning of April as our two new Business Development Managers, and having them onboard is a big step in how we’re structuring the next phase of growth. That will continue throughout Q2 and Q3.

We’ve rolled out our latest internal policies this month, with the help of Nicola and Tim, to further support team members and strengthen our product for clients. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes work that helps people know where to turn, and supports people we add to the team in the future.

AI Adoption Across the Team

I created an AI adoption survey this month, focused on understanding how each person is currently using tools like Claude relative to their own workflow. Off the back of that, every team member now has targets specific to their role to push their usage further in the coming months. The capabilities of Claude right now are genuinely exciting, and I’ve never missed being hands-on as much as I do at the moment, thinking about how much I could achieve with these tools at my disposal. The whole team is engaging with it though, which is exactly where we need to be.

Busy, Then Off

It’s been a particularly intense few weeks, working seven days a week right up until the end of April. That pace isn’t sustainable long-term and I know that, but sometimes the work demands it and you just have to crack on wearing blinkers. The good news is I’ve now got just under two weeks off to rest and recharge before the run into summer, which I intend to make the most of. Enjoying the Norfolk coast, the weather forecast is great, and I’ll be doing lots of gyming and swimming to justify the fish and chips and ice cream.

The Music Lives On

The highlight of the month outside of work was seeing Carl Cox and The Prodigy at Leeds Arena. Arguably the biggest DJ and the biggest group in the history of the dance music scene, both on the same bill. The stage, the lighting and the sound were incredible. I was standing there feeling genuinely grateful to have grown up at a time when so much incredible music was being released, and to still be going to these events with the same friends I was at festivals and gigs with over twenty years ago is a real pleasure. Although I was in bits the next day, experiences like that are the reward for the hard work.

My radio show, Club Cultured, is starting to pick up new followers. Our latest episode was the night before seeing Carl Cox and The Prodigy, so we did a full two hours dedicated to those two icons. It was a lot of fun! I think it will turn out to be one of our greatest ever shows, and it’s got me really excited to plan more themes for the future.

Wrapping Up Projects

April has been a great month for wrapping up projects and getting work over the line. As an example, we have now completed a new e-commerce website that offers heat pumps. The special part of this project is the API connection to another server. We have needed to automatically export orders into CSV files using a CRON.

Then, we needed to also create a CRON that could automatically pull a CSV product feed to populate the website. The challenge with this was the product packs. These product packs allow the store owner to create a product that is bundled with other products. Any orders placed on product packs then needs to deduct stock on every product in the bundle and update the API. I’m really happy with the result and I’m looking forward to what we build next.

Bringing Back The Gaming Sessions

I have gotten some old friends together (around 6 of us) and got us regularly playing together on a weekend with a private server we have setup. We’ve been playing Minecraft, but it has been heavily modified, so it’s now got very challenging boss fights, a new levelling system and a very different feel of playing the game. It’s been great fun and a good excuse to do something together on the regular.

Shower Troubles

The joys of being a homeowner has struck again. While in the shower, the basin decided to give way and crack causing all the water to drain down the house and into the kitchen. When I came downstairs, all the sides and the cupboards were just flooded. Thankfully, it was not enough water to make the roof come down but it has stained it.

Looking on the bright side of it though, we get a full new shower setup all on the insurance. We’ve just had to enjoy the fun of sink washing and borrowing everyone else’s showers while we get this sorted.

Claude Integration

With each passing day at Twilo we’re integrating Claude more and more into how we work. It also is running parallel with all the new updates and features that come out with Claude at a similar fast pace.

I personally have been able to use Claude to work within my specific calendar and dig further into the client ads and see where improvements could be made earlier to ensure they’re performing at maximum capacity.

Lunch In The Sun

With the recent lovely weather we’ve had in April, in the office we decided we can’t miss out on the opportunity of spending as much time as we can in the sun. So, on our lunch we’ve swapped the table in the kitchen to the park outside and it’s been really fun! We also treated ourselves to some ice creams, because what’s better than that in the sun!

Helping Clients Grow

In a recent monthly meeting with one of our clients, they informed us that from the volume of quality leads that they were receiving from our ads, that they’re looking to grow their sales team to meet demand on leads.

This was excellent news and it really showed that the hard work that Twilo puts in to get results for our clients really pays off.

First Half Marathon

This month I completed the London Landmarks Half Marathon! This was my first half marathon, and I’ve pretty much felt like I’m on cloud nine ever since! I completed it in 1 hour 39 minutes, which is much better than I ever thought I’d do. I trained a lot for this race, and the crossing of the finish line was such a brilliant feeling.

Also, along the way to see members of my family had travelled down to support me filled me with so many emotions and spurred me on and the streets being packed with people all cheering everyone on, really pushes you that extra mile.

I ran this half marathon raising money for Prostate Cancer UK, a charity with a simple ambition – to stop men dying from prostate cancer. For them I raised £875, which was 250% over my target of £350 and to know that the money raised could help save towards someone’s father, brother, uncle, etc makes me very proud of what I’ve done.

A Good Feed

After raving to my friends about how good the Sunday Lunches are at Forde, Horsforth, they wanted to give it a try, and it did not disappoint!

We had an exceptional Sunday Lunch and followed by one of the tastiest sticky toffee puddings I’ve ever had. Hopefully, we’ll head back there sometime soon.

Proud Brother

I’m not the only running in my family. My sister, Charlotte completed the London Marathon in April, on her birthday no less, and she absolutely smashed it!

She trained very hard and pushed herself through some challenges to complete this mammoth of an achievement and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

She also raised money for the charity Sue Ryder, raising an incredible £2,390 for them, adding to her already unbelievable achievement.

Wembley Heartache…Again

After seeing my sister run, I went to Wembley, to watch Leeds United at their first FA Cup semi-final in 40 years and in typical Leeds fashion they didn’t turn up, well not in the first half at least.

They played the billion-pound squad that Chelsea has assembled and lost 1-0. The quest for a goal in a final now goes on 33 years.

Despite the loss, I am proud of them a team only just promoted from the championship and fighting relegation was able to get to the final four of the oldest club football competition, in which 747 clubs have played in this season is hell of an achievement.

Maybe one day Leeds will get to Wembley again and score a goal.

Two new builds.

April’s been a busy one. I’ve had two new website builds on the go, one for a swim academy and the other for a construction company. Completely different worlds, but both have been a lot of fun. Each one needed its own approach, so the design and structure have been shaped around what each type of visitor actually needs.

The swim academy side leans more into bookings and friendly, welcoming content. The construction site is more about showcasing completed projects and making it easy for people to get in touch. Different goals, same focus on keeping things quick, clean, and simple to navigate. We’ve also been building in a few new features on both that I’m pleased with, bits that make the admin side easier and give the front-end a bit more flexibility down the line.

Berlin for my birthday.

I spent my birthday in Berlin this month and it was brilliant. The main thing I wanted to do was catch an Eisbären Berlin game, and I managed to get tickets for one of their playoff semi-finals against Cologne. Completely different pace to the Leeds Knights back home. The arena is huge, the crowd is massive, and it genuinely feels like a big event from the moment you walk in. Great atmosphere start to finish.

Outside the hockey, I managed to get round most of the tourist spots too. Brandenburg Gate, the TV Tower, a walk along what’s left of the old Wall. Tried currywurst for the first time along with a few other bits of German food, and the local beer lived up to the reputation, plenty of Berliner Kindl and Berliner Pilsner to go round. Definitely somewhere I’d go back to.

I also got round a few of the museums while I was there. A surprise standout was the Computerspielemuseum, a computer games museum with over 300 interactive exhibits and every console going back to the original Magnavox Odyssey from 1972. Good to see the consoles I grew up with lined up as well, the N64, PS1, Dreamcast and original Xbox in particular.

Garage gym project.

I also finally got round to sorting the garage out. A couple of tip runs and it actually looks like a space again. The plan is to turn it into a home gym, so now comes the fun bit of filling it with equipment I’ll swear I’m going to use every day and probably touch once a month.

April’s been busy in the best way. Two new builds, a birthday trip, On to May.

April’s been a busy one, three big projects on the go, the dashboard finally coming to life, and a proper holiday in the sun.

Print & IT Solutions Website

I’ve started work on a new website for a print solutions and IT company. They’ve had their existing site for a very long time and have completely outgrown it, so this project is all about modernising and bringing it up to where the business is now.

There’s an interesting challenge with this one. The print company is merging with their sister IT company into a single entity, so we’re having to think carefully about how the design reflects both sides without leaning too heavily into one. It’s a good problem to have at the start of a project with plenty of room to set the direction.

Update on the dashboard project

The dashboard I’ve been designing for a while is finally coming together in code with Nick and Andrew, and it’s looking great. Genuinely fun to click around and play with now that it’s interactive. We’re all excited to see it fully launched.

I’ve also started on the first product that will feature on the dashboard. It needs its own brand and a unique app/dashboard area, so I’m essentially starting a fresh design system within the wider one. A nice change of pace from the main dashboard work.

New project for facilities management company

I kicked off another new portfolio site this month, this time for a facilities management company. It’s been a fun one to design, with some nice animations and a clean modern feel.

Similar to the print/IT project, they don’t really have much in terms of a current website, so I’ve been able to build this one from the ground up. They’ve also given me some great video content to work with, which has made a big difference visually. Always nicer when the content is there to support the design rather than fighting against it.

Personal highlights

I went on a cycling holiday to Alcudia with my dad and brother last week. It’s a trip we’ve done 5 times now, this time covering around 100 miles of biking up and down the mountains of Mallorca, always finishing in a little Spanish village square for a few pints before rolling back to Alcudia for the evening. 

For the final day we hired scooters and did a big day trip over to Port de Sóller, which was a great way to round off the trip and a nice way to give the legs a rest whilst still being on 2 wheels. Some amazing memories made, and a strong reminder that I should probably get on the bike a bit more often before the next trip.

Bringing More Real Content into the Mix

This month I’ve been focusing on bringing more photography into our content, capturing real people and real teams rather than relying on stock or overly polished visuals. It’s been a really enjoyable shift and adds a lot more personality to the work we’re putting out, even if not everyone loves being in front of the camera!

It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, and it’s been good to build it more into what we do day to day.

We also had a few run-ins with Meta as a team this month, trying to get support on an issue which, as expected, proved nearly impossible. It definitely gave us all some lessons along the way.

And on a simpler note, it’s been nice to spend more time in the office with the sunshine finally making an appearance.

Outside of Work

Outside of work, we’ve just come back from a really lovely trip. We took the ferry over to Rotterdam and then travelled through Belgium, France and Holland, visiting Bruges, Ghent, Lille and The Hague, as well as seeing the tulips and windmills along the way.

The journey back was a bit choppy, which wasn’t ideal, but we all made it through without needing a sick bag, which felt like a win in itself.

A great trip all round and definitely one to remember.

Spec-Driven Development and Ralph Loops

I’ve been trying out spec-driven development this month, which basically means writing a full spec for the project before any code gets written. Every component, every feature, every edge case gets thought through and documented upfront. I’ve paired this with Ralph loops, where an AI coding tool runs through a list of tasks derived from the spec. It’s a very different way of working for me because I’d usually start building and figure things out as I go, but this forces you to do the hard thinking before a single line of code is written.

It seems like if you capture everything perfectly in the specifications, this process should theoretically create strong accurate code, backed by unit and end-to-end test suites, but in practice it’s only about 90% there. Maybe I need to tighten up the specs, maybe I need to change the language in the Ralph loop prompt to be stricter about the tests, I’m not sure. I’ve been improving this approach iteratively, and I believe I’ll get to a point where human QA is a fast process because it gets most, if not everything, perfect on the first try.

Parents Visiting and Going Outside

I saw my parents last weekend, and took them for a drink to The Golden Fleece in York. They’re currently doing a bus tour around England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and they stopped in at York for a day. By the time they’re done they’ll have seen more of this part of the world than me, and I live here! They’ll be back early next month, and then they’ll be staying with me for a couple of weeks, which will be nice.

Busy Bees

April has been a busy month at work with lots of projects on the go, two new starters joining us, and the Easter bank holidays in the mix.

Dom and Uzair started with us two weeks ago as Business Development Managers and I’m sure will soon be making things even busier for the team!

I’ve been getting more involved in the projects alongside my administration work and will be increasing my working hours from May to accommodate this. Looking forward to to getting properly stuck in to some project management!

Easter Adventures

Outside of work, for the bank holiday weekend I enjoyed a lovely break with my family in a cottage in the Yorkshire Dales; lots of lambs, daffodils and birds making an appearance along with some sunshine (along with plenty of April showers!) We visited Fountains Abbey, Ripley Castle (which has its own Eel Tower!) and Brimham Rocks, all beautiful places with amazing scenery in-between.

Later the school holidays included wizard-themed mini golf and a trip to Cannon Hall Farm to see lots of baby animals – both fun days out!