I'm Neil Webley. I help businesses work out where technology can make things easier, then build practical improvements. I am based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, and work with clients locally, throughout the UK and internationally through remote collaboration.
Tell me what you would like to improve ↗I've spent more than 30 years in professional software and technology work, solving technical and commercial problems. Senior development, QA and team management have all shaped how I approach the work today.
I started programming as a child in the 1980s and moved into professional development in the 1990s. My wider career has included telecommunications billing, database development and administration, internet and network infrastructure, broadcast technology and web applications. Each involved understanding how people, systems and information need to work together.
Today, automation and AI-assisted development add useful tools to that experience. My job is to understand the business problem and choose a reliable way to improve it.
Understand the problem first. Then use the simplest technology that solves it.
Work with real systems, data and delivery teams is the foundation of my practical approach today.
Senior Developer. I worked on professional conversion rate optimisation and experimentation. This work grounded my approach in the practical demands of developing experiments for commercial websites.
That experience informs the CRO and A/B testing work I offer today.
I subsequently joined WeTeachCRO as a Senior Developer and became Development and QA Manager. My responsibilities grew to include development management, QA, reliable experiment delivery, technical support, mentoring and improvements to team processes.
WeTeachCRO was acquired by Velstar in 2024. Its former website now leads to Velstar's CRO service.
Earlier in my career, I developed a major electronic programme guide (EPG) system at EBS New Media. EBS used it for many years in multinational, multilingual television listings and programme-information workflows and distribution.
EBS was acquired by PA Group, now PA Media Group, in 2018 and later integrated into its PA TV Metadata operation. This background in software, databases and dependable data flows informs my bespoke development work.
I am the founder and developer of FreeCROTool, a lightweight A/B testing and website experimentation platform aimed particularly at small and growing businesses. I created it after years of commercial CRO work, bringing together software development, experiment delivery and measurement.
A customer-facing problem may start in a database. An administration problem may be solved by a better website feature. My work in analytics and measurement helps connect what a system does with whether it is helping the business. Experience across these areas lets me follow the problem through to its cause.
I enjoy applying that experience to smaller businesses, where the right improvement can make everyday work easier. You can come to me with a frustration or an inefficient process; you do not need to know whether the answer is software, automation or a change to something you already have.
We begin with how the business works today and what you would like to improve. I ask about the constraints, look for a sensible first step and explain the technical options in terms of their usefulness. Building is part of the work; checking whether the change helped is another.
Remote collaboration can include walking through a process on a call and reviewing examples together. The important thing is access to the people who know the task and a clear picture of what a useful outcome would look like.
A brief description of the problem is enough to begin.
Start a conversation ↗