I build things. Including this page.
AI features, MVPs and internal tools for tech companies. Scoped up front, priced before we start, and finished in four to six weeks. Now grab a block.
Everything here was built by hand. The blocks have real weight, so throw them around.
Five ways I work.
Pick whichever one matches your problem. If none of them do, I’ll say so.
How a build usually goes.
One scoping call, a price in writing, and working software in your codebase within weeks. No retainers and nothing rolling on afterwards.
Scope
One call to get specific about the problem and what finished actually looks like. Then a fixed price, in writing.
Build
I build it myself, end to end. The scope is locked, and anything that changes gets agreed before I touch it.
Ship
Working software handed over in four to six weeks, and then I’m out of your way.
Things I’m building myself.
Part of the reason I only take on a handful of client builds a year.
What I’m working on.
What’s shipped, what’s still in progress, and what I’ve pitched for. Updated whenever there’s something worth adding.
Wrapped up a client build for a refrigerated trailer manufacturer. Fifty years of paper time cards replaced with tablets on the workshop wall and a live dashboard in the office, in about four weeks. The paper is gone and the office can finally see where every job sits without waiting until end of day. Wrote the whole thing up in the articles section.
Bogey Mates is now live and in public beta testing. After months of work, the golf social network is now live at www.bogeymates.com.au. The app is a social network for golfers to connect with friends, find new courses and play together. The app is free to use and is available on iOS and Android.
Built admin panel for office staff to get an operations overview of the business to make more informed decisions.
Finalised scoring data, course data and polygon mapping for Bogey Mates. Now in beta with testers.
BirdieBlast 1.2.0. Added alignment to the square golf launch monitor connector, part of the kids games software I open sourced.
Plans v0.12. Built a proposals and forms section for the travel agent tool.
Built tool for workers to log time and sync with back of house staff to manage rosters and payroll.
Bogey Mates alpha shipped to four golf friends. Still working through getting lat/long gps data and tees for courses around Australia.
Three slots left for July through September. After that I'm heads-down on Plans for the rest of the year.
Pitched for work on a golf swing analysis tool using AI and Machine Vision technology.
Started prototyping Savora. Group payments are a lot gnarlier than I remembered, which is roughly why I want to have a go at it.
Notes from the workbench.
Writing about the builds I take on, the products I’m making, and the things I’ve got wrong along the way.
Fifty years of paper time cards, gone in about four weeks
A Melbourne manufacturer had tracked its work on paper cards and a spreadsheet that was always a day behind. Here's what it took to replace all of it with tablets on the workshop wall and a live dashboard in the office.
Why I went back to building software instead of designing it
Most senior design roles now are mostly coordination. The AI tools got good enough that I could go back to building things myself, so I did.
Four fixed-price AI builds in a year: what actually happened
I said I'd take on four fixed-price builds in twelve months and write down whatever I learned. The year is up, so here it is, including the one that nearly didn't ship.
Chris Jack.
Design and AI leader based in Melbourne. StackCraft is the client work. The products are the longer bet.
I’m Chris. StackCraft is a small practice on purpose, a handful of fixed-price AI builds a year for tech companies who want one person on their feature, MVP or internal tool from start to finish. Once the AI tools got good enough to change how I work, I went back to writing product code instead of leading teams who write it, which is the part of this job I actually missed.
Away from client work I’m building a few things of my own. Plans is an AI itinerary tool for travel agents. Bogey Mates organises group golf trips. Savora handles the kitty for group events. And BirdieBlast is a set of open-source golf-simulator games I build with my kid. All of it exists because building things is what I want to be doing.
Twenty years of it.
Senior product design roles at Australian businesses. This is employment history rather than a client list.