Hi there!

I'm Baz (aka Rahoul Baruah) and I've been writing ruby code professionally since 2005, and I've been a freelancer, dedicated to building low-cost bespoke systems for tiny businesses (generally no more than ten employees) since 2007.

I'm also full-time CTO at Collabor8Online which has meant my freelance clients had to take a back seat for a while. I told the clients about my situation but they all wanted me to stay, I told the company about my situation and they were relaxed about it. So I've basically been juggling these two roles for a couple of years now.

Building Standard Procedure

I'd been neglecting my freelance clients so, after a bit of thought, I realised I could unify their codebases into one system. Every client benefits from changes made for the other and with a bit of careful design work and configuration, I could ensure the systems work perfectly for all of them.

I called it "Standard Procedure" - both the standard way I could kick-start any future development projects, but also the standard way my clients could have systems that define their processes and how their businesses work.

But juggling is juggling, time is time and life gets in the way. I've not made much progress on this framework. So I decided, in February 2024, to do this work in public.

This site is going to be a warts and all record of my progress on Standard Procedure. I commit to doing a weekly update, showing what I've built, the progress I've made, the stuff I've got wrong and details of how I keep my clients happy.

I'm a great rubyist, generally writing clear, easy to understand, code. But I've also had my share of disasters in my time, where time and cost pressure lead me to cut corners, in turn leading to crappy code and fragile systems.

You'll see all of that, I'm sure.

Posting weekly keeps me accountable and forces me to do the work. But it also means you will learn a few things - I've been doing this for over 15 years as a developer and I've got a way of working that is sometimes unusual but generally effective.

Access all areas

By signing up, you'll get access to the full archive of everything that's been published before (including a load of older stuff from when I was a pure freelancer, plus a brief spell as a Profit First Professional - teaching business owners a simple reframing that ensures your business is always making a profit).

What does the future hold?

I did have a grand vision for Standard Procedure. Who knows if that will ever come to pass, especially as I'm enjoying my time at C8O.

But what I can promise is you'll get to see how I plan, spec and write my systems, the things that go well and the (many) things that will go wrong.

Get a free email subscription to have these bulletins sent directly to your inbox. I'm not some marketeer and I detest spam as much as you do, so I'll never sell your details on or send you a load of crap. I promise.

So that's me and that's what's going on here.

I'd love to meet you.