It doesn't always have
to be so complicated

Digital engineering done well

Our mission is to help you get
ahead and be in control

We get it. The 'business as usual' far too often constrains your capacity to evolve, especially as companies scale.
System developments end up coming second to daily maintenance and client needs and before you know it you're maxed out - both from a capacity and capability perspective.

We’ve walked in the shoes of your technical team before and have years of experience of complex challenges like this.
Hppn is designed to pull alongside you, deploying squads with a unique blend of toughened engineers and high-calibre consultants.
These teams have the experience to diagnose complex technical situations and then mobilise rapidly.

Discovery to delivery

The ubiquitous Product Management playbook is not the only tool in our belt. We understand that mature systems often need stabilising and simplifying before productising. This takes experience, precision and close collaboration.We have built up a tried and tested approach to getting you the results that you need. We don't automatically assume we're 'one of the team' but we do get into the weeds with you and see the challenge as it really is.

Flexible service

Let's face it - complex challenges can’t be diagnosed at 50,000ft. Our clients are never the same, and so we flex to suit.We can advise and we can implement - or something in between.Team sizes can be a 2 person Discovery Unit, or a 4 person Fire Team, or up to a 7 person Delivery Squad.And all come with a sensible level of governance and support.

Hppn Leadership

Our leadership team are masters in designing, managing and delivering technical solutions. Critically, they have decades of experience in working together, so will land ready to operate across a wide range of industries and often under tight constraints.

What's Hppn'in

Join the waitlist

We're at capacity at the moment but as we tend to work in 6-8 week blocks, the opportunity to surface and connect is never far away.
Please drop us a line and we'll be in touch soon to see how we can help with some of your tech challenges.

©Hppn Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chief Executive Officer

Kouros Roshanzamir

Kouros has been obsessed with tech since the day he first turned on his ZX81.35 years on and he now has a wealth of multi-industry experience including marketing, media, banking, re-insurance, avionics and one or two start-ups, working with businesses such as ITV, Barclays, Freshfields, Aspen and KCOM.The common thread running through all his roles has been his passion for solving meaningful but difficult challenges for organisations and building teams around him to get it done.In 2018, driven by the need to bring a solution to the market wasn’t available, he co-founded Hppn, a task force of expert technologists hand-picked to take on the most complex of IT challenges and deliver results quickly. Leaving behind the role of detached consultant, he now proudly leads a squad of empathetic practitioners who get into the mud with client teams, working together to create real-world solutions.As CEO of Hppn he champions a philosophy centred on forging authentic, collaborative relationships - both within the team and with their clients. When strong teams are trusted to explore and deliver effectively, then the real obstacles will surface and can be confidently tackled head-on.

Chief Quality Officer

Richard Stowe

Richard is a seasoned testing enthusiast, passionate about the efficiencies gained by testing best practices. With two decades of hands-on development experience in Java and Spring technologies, Richard is not only a deployment automation expert with Kubernetes, Helm, and cloud-based infrastructure provisioning skills but also a coach in development best practices and SOLID principles.Beyond his coding finesse, he has an unusual affection for retro cars. Richard’s extensive experience includes working with enterprise-grade software contributing to projects that serve millions of users, predominantly in the telco, TV, and digital marketing sectors.

Chief Operating Officer

Mark Ford

Mark is the COO of Hppn and an expert in project execution. Previously, Mark led Hppn's project operations, focusing on driving solutions that provided customer value and contributed to the growth of Hppn's reputation.With over 20 years of project management experience in the financial, digital media, CRM, and automotive industries, Mark excels in all aspects of project implementation. He is highly respected for his exceptional ability to build solid teams and align project outcomes with real-life constraints through practical agile techniques, enabling high-quality digital solutions.

Chief Delivery Officer

Mike Green

As Head of Delivery for Hppn, Mike is responsible for ensuring our customers' needs and outcomes are met on time and as described. Mike is well-placed to satisfy customers ' challenges and goals with experience delivering many different types of engagements across several sectors, including telco, insurance, and digital marketing.With an understanding of what it takes to be a Product Owner and experience as an Engagement Manager, he has the necessary tools to navigate a path to deliver regular value with feedback.A key strength of Mike is understanding that every customer is different and has their own challenges and requirements. Being able to articulate these and break them down into the simplest 'thing' that will deliver value means Mike's approach is always collaborative and engaging.

Chief Innovation Officer

Dave Mulligan

David is a Principal Engineer renowned for his innovative approach to complex engineering challenges and a keen understanding of customer needs.With over 25 years in the tech industry, his expertise is crafting code and creating enduring, impactful solutions. His career has seen him navigate a variety of roles, showcasing his versatility in languages like Java and Python and his proficiency in cloud platforms such as AWS and Google Cloud.His work extends across several industries, from finance to automotive, where he has applied his technical skills to drive meaningful advancements. David's ability to align technical solutions with business objectives has made him a leader in his field, contributing significantly to the tech landscape through his holistic and forward-thinking approach.

Chief Technical Officer

Alex Williams

Alex is passionate about crafting platforms that harness the power of open-source and cloud technologies, empowering development teams to seamlessly transition changes from git commit to live production features.With an impressive coding career spanning over three decades, Alex specialises in integrating the latest GitOps methodologies and cloud infrastructure to create tools and pipelines that enhance simplicity, efficiency, and consistency for IT teams. His expertise extends across various industries, including telecommunications, legal services, and insurance, demonstrating a versatile skill set that adapts to diverse technological landscapes.Reflecting on his career choice, Alex is grateful to his younger self for venturing into computing—a field where, on the brightest days, work feels like play. Away from the digital world, Alex indulges in his love for music, continually expanding his cherished collection of rare soul records.

Hppn Thinking

Canary in the Code Mine

In software engineering, we're often faced with a riddle:

|How can a team, armed to the teeth with unit tests, still find their code hard to change and their delivery bogged down by unexpected functionality gaps?

At Hppn, we have this nightmarish image of standing in a coal mine filled with canaries, each chirping away trying to tell us something.And here's the catch – there are so many canaries that their chorus is deafening. And taking care of them all has become a full time job.How will we know when one topples off their perch as an early sign of danger?Low and behold we've found ourselves in the classic ‘too much of a good thing’ trap!

The Quality Quagmire

Let's set a more realistic scene. You're leading a software team. You've got a solid set of unit tests in place. Your code coverage? Impeccable.Yet…something’s amiss.Bugs and feature gaps are too common. Confidence in the code has dropped so low that sprints are being permanently extended to make room for manual testing.New features are stuck on the backlog for months.So what’s going on?

The Unit Testing Paradox

Now this might seem controversial but maybe we've been overdoing it with unit tests. 🤔Like an overpopulated mine of canaries, an automatic, unthinking approach to unit testing can end up just creating lots of noise and a maintenance burden, undermining the very challenge we’re trying to tackle.What’s the alternative?Well firstly, we’re NOT saying all unit testing is worthless. But how do you know how many canaries you need?

Behavioural Testing: A Glimpse

At Hppn we’re a big believer in behavioural testing.This approach is focused on understanding how your software is expected to behave in the real-world…in the hands of actual users. It's not about testing every line of code but about ensuring the software does what it's supposed to do – effectively and efficiently.Think of it as having just the right number of canaries, so that you'll actually notice when one stops singing to signal something important.As well as this early warning system, behavioural testing comes with many side benefits that will not only improve the quality of your code, but also keep your pipeline to production flowing smoothly.

Who Should Care?

As CIOs, CTOs, and Engineering Managers wrestling with mid to large scale applications, you are already sensing the weight of the tech debt; you know that a change is needed.Reducing unit tests might sound radical but it's a step towards a more effective testing strategy, and more confidence in your platform.

What's Next?

In the upcoming articles, we'll delve into the specifics of behavioural testing – the techniques, tools, and real-world examples and applications. We’ve listed just a few of the questions we’ll be answering below. In the meantime, perhaps ponder this:

|What are your unit tests actually telling you about the functionality being delivered to the user? Are you checking for syntax? Or are you confirming it’s valuable?

Stay tuned. We’re just starting our descent into the heart of effective testing.

Please share your experiences and insights. Join the conversation as we strive to optimise the path from dev to production.

Questions we’ll be answering in upcoming articles:

1. How well do your tests reflect your acceptance criteria?
2. How do you address rigidity of your code base?
3. Do your tests convey the system behaviour, or the implementation details?
4. Would your mum understand the intent of your tests? [Alternate title: Could you feed your tests into AI and get a description of your feature?]
5. Are your tests a first class citizen in your code base?