Andrew
Plenty of Integrations
A lot of work which I have been completing in May has revolved around integrations and APIs which I have not used before. This has been very exciting and is always a joy to learn and work with new tools and experiment with what is out there.
We have used Stripe for many websites, but I now had the opportunity to use Stripe Connect. This is a very powerful integration to have as when it is combined with the usual stripe payment gateways, you have got yourself a new app that comes with payment tools all built in. The app we have been developing allows you to receive payments and make payouts all within the same place. What this also means is that we can easily show statistics and present cash flow how we best see fit for the application’s purpose.
I’ve also had the opportunity to pair up with other developers to help a client get their two applications paired up. We are doing this with a single sign on button that takes users who are logged into our application, and links them to the other portal where they will automatically be logged in as the same user. This has been a good experience to explore the security around custom single sign on implementations, making sure that our applications stay safe as well as convenient.
House Preparations
Lots to be done on the house between now and the next few months. We are still going through the process to get our shower replaced which we hope to have done soon. We have at least got a temporary solution to the issue so we can still use the old shower while we wait. Besides this, we have got our first mortgage renewal coming up and we are helping a friend out by letting them stay a while until they can find their feet after moving back up north. I’ve got some work to do to make the spare bedroom nice for their arrival. I’ll also need more storage as I used that room’s built in cupboards/draws to dump my stuff. June will be the month of Ikea, I guess.
It’s good timing to get someone new in the house as I have just expanded our ever-growing tabletop collection. I’ve finally gotten my hands on a classic game called Root. I first tried this as a digital copy and I’m excited to have the physical version. In a nutshell, it’s a game about woodland creatures that are at war with each other. It’s a silly premise but very fun.
Bank Holiday Relaxation
To end the month with a bit of rest, I had a stroll through Leeds, specifically around the canal routes. We also dropped by the Royal Armouries for a quick gander. I was very ill prepared for the heat though as I ended up burning the back of my neck. Ah well, lessons learned.
Reece
What I’ve Been Building
Most of May went into a new website for a client that offers managed print services and IT support to businesses. It’s been a good one to work on.
The brand had a lot of personality, which gave us room to push the design a bit further than a standard business site. It was good bouncing creative ideas around with Liam, and we ended up adding some nice animations and small touches throughout. It’s the kind of thing that’s easy to miss if you’re not looking, but it makes the site feel a bit more alive.
The small stuff has made a big difference on this one. A hover state here, a section that animates in at the right time, a stat that counts up as you scroll. None of it on its own is much, but together it adds up.
Outside of the main build, I’ve been putting together a project to improve how we kick off new sites. Getting the setup phase tighter means we spend less time on the boilerplate and more on the parts that actually shape the build. Always looking at the in-house framework too, tightening it up to keep the quality as high as possible.
Looking ahead, June’s already shaping up well. Got a new build starting for a client that’ll be more of a step-by-step journey site, where the user answers a few questions and gets guided through to the right product for them. Should be a good one to get stuck into.
Away From the Screen
Started the month with a weekend in Flamborough. The walk from Flamborough down to Bridlington was the highlight, about three and a half hours along the coast. Easy walking when you’ve got views like that the whole way.
Caught 2:22 at Leeds Grand Theatre too, a horror play. Seeing horror in a theatre is something different and pretty amazing. Kept you on edge the whole way and had a really good twist at the end.
Bank holiday weekend was a busy one. Ended up in a few different beer gardens, enjoying the sun and a few evening meals out, most of them had live music going, either on a terrace or someone set up on the street. Good atmosphere everywhere.
Got to a fair at Roundhay Park too, which was a good day out. The standout was the Great British Food Festival at Harewood House. The brisket was unreal, Texas BBQ style, cooked low and slow in a big smoker. Tasted amazing. Came home with some good honey, a few cookies and snacks, and a bag of coffee beans to add to the ever-growing collection.
Liam
May brought saw the completion of a couple of large scale projects we’ve been working on for a while, the start of more big projects, and some insanely hot weather.
Wrapping things up
This month saw a couple of big projects finally come to a close. One of them is for the dashboard app I mentioned a few months back that’s involved myself, Nick and Andrew in it’s creation. Its been really fun to work alongside the devs on this one and to watch my designs come to life in real-time. We ran a few days of rigorous testing a few weeks back which allowed me to get my own logins and act like a customer which was a lot of fun.
We also wrapped up a big website project for a print and IT management company. I worked closely with Reece on this project and we had a lot of fun ideas to make the site a bit more interesting. It was great to bounce ideas off each other and test different animations and concepts as we were putting the site together. We’re really proud of this one so it’ll definitely be turned into a case study sometime soon.
Design Time
This month also brought some good old fashioned design work with a project for one of our long-term clients. A few days spent working on branding for a construction company was really fun and added to the variety of work we have here at Twilo.
Pizza Night
A few weeks ago we finished work and headed into Leeds for a team meal out and Franco Manca. We arrived early for our table so we did what anyone would do on a nice night in Leeds, headed to the pub next door. I’d never been to Franco Manca before but the food was excellent, will definitely be going again.
Personal Highlights
The month began with the Appley Bridge annual duck race. Back in my home town each year thousands of rubber ducks are thrown into the canal and blasted by a fire engine. It was a fun day out although my duck didn’t win. The bank holiday weekend rounded off the month with 31 degree heat – unheard of on a bank holiday in England. Safe to say we spent it riding bikes to dip spots and drinking beers, beautiful weekend all around!
Nick
Worktrees
As far as work goes, I’ve moved on from ralph loops and SDD to just running multiple claude agents in parallel, in a “human in the loop” style. I’ve found this to be the most productive way of working so far, although it requires me to be actively on top of each agent. The trick so far has been to keep the agents working on separate parts of the codebase, so they don’t step on each others toes and overwrite each others changes. I’ve been looking into the worktree feature of claude code, which solves that issue, but I haven’t quite figured out the workflow. If I have two claude agents working on separate copies of my react app, how do I check their work in the browser before merging in the worktree? This is something I still need to figure out..
Parents Here From New Zealand
My parents came over from NZ and stayed with me for a couple of weeks. They had just done a tour of the UK and Ireland, which I mentioned in last month’s blog post. It was great seeing them and spending time with them. While they were staying with me they checked out some more parts of England, including a bunch of small villages they had been recommended by other family members like Harrogate and Knaresborough. While they were here we did a tour of the Minster, and did the climb up to the top, where you get an amazing view, I could almost see my house. I wasn’t expecting the 250 steps up the tiny spiral staircases to be as tough as it was, but it wasn’t too bad.
Building a Trading Bot
Dad’s always been interested in trading stocks, and now that AI is so accessible he’s been using it to build his own mean reversion trading bot in Python, running paper trades on QQQ and SPY. I’ve been building my own version in TypeScript, and since I actually know how to code I’ve been able to move a lot faster, and I’ve more or less caught up to where he is. There’s a bit of friendly competition but we’re sharing code and collaborating too. The other thing I’ve been doing is using AI to build up an Obsidian vault full of interlinked notes explaining all the trading terminology and concepts I’m coming across, since I knew absolutely nothing about trading before this. It’s been a good way to learn quickly and actually retain what I’m picking up.
Nicola
New Starters
Another busy month at work with recent expansion to the team. Our two new BDMs Dominic and Uzair have been settling in and reaching out to lots of potential new clients. We have also been on the hunt for a new Head of Marketing and interviews are ongoing. Meanwhile the core team has been busy working way on a variety of projects, both web and branding.
As a break away from work, the whole team enjoyed a social evening meal this month at Franco Manca in Leeds. It was good to chat to people outside of the office, give the BDMs a chance to get to know the team better and the pizza was great!
Long Weekends
Outside of work it’s been a quietish month not helped by lots of ‘April showers’ in what is supposed be a lovely sunny month! Good weather over the first bank holiday weekend made a welcome change though and allowed us to get out and about in the fresh air and to do some overdue gardening!
The second bank holiday was a scorcher, too hot to do anything much but we did manage a visit to Lotherton, a stately home with lovely grounds, a deer park, Wildlife World which houses birds, animals and features a penguin pool and a Nocturnal Zone. On the day we visited it was hosting a Pipe Band competition, which was a bit different!
