Shyam Patel, business consultant and engineer at hueman
I work out why a business is stuck, then build the thing that fixes it.
Sometimes that's software. Sometimes it's an automation or an AI assistant. Occasionally it's a change to how the team works, and nothing gets built at all.
01 The mess
Most of the work that slows a business down is invisible.
A lead waits in an inbox over the weekend. Someone rebuilds the same spreadsheet every month. Nobody planned it, it just grew.
02 The real problem
Before I build anything, I find out where the time and money go.
On one project the brief asked for more practice tests. The real problem was that students couldn't tell why they were losing marks.
03 The fix
Then I build the smallest thing that fixes it, and I build it properly.
- AI
- Automation
- Software
- Consulting
AI
AI, used where it actually saves someone time.
Sorting incoming requests, pulling details out of documents, drafting replies for a person to check. People stay in charge of anything that matters.
- Inbox triage
- Document extraction
- Assistants that know your own material
Automation
Automation for the jobs nobody wants to do.
Copying between systems, chasing people for updates, the weekly report someone puts together by hand.
- Workflows across your tools
- Approvals and hand-offs
- Alerts when something looks wrong
Software
Software that's still working next year.
Tested, documented and on accounts you own. SectionalTest went live a week after its first commit and has shipped improvements every week since.
- Internal tools and portals
- Integrations
- Dashboards
Consulting
And sometimes the answer isn't software at all.
If a better process, or a setting in a tool you already pay for, will do the job, I'll tell you before you spend anything.
- Process reviews
- AI planning
- Ongoing advice for leadership
04 Recent work
Two projects, both in use by thousands of students.
05 How I work
How these projects usually go, and how I run them.
06 Questions
Things people usually ask me.
Why not just hire a developer or an agency?
If you already know exactly what to build, you probably should. I'm most useful when the problem is clear but the answer isn't.
Do you use AI to write code?
Yes, it makes me a lot faster. I still design the system, write the tests, review the security and document everything, and I can tell when what it wrote is wrong. That's the difference between using AI and vibe coding.
What if the answer isn't software?
Then I'll say so. Some of the most useful work I've done was a changed process, or talking someone out of building something.
Who owns the work?
You do. The code, the accounts, the data and the documentation are all yours.
Tell me what's going on.
A few lines about the problem is plenty. I read every message myself and reply with honest first thoughts, including when I'm not the right person for it.
shyam@hueman.in