Less repetitive work
Give routine tasks a clear path, so people can focus where they add value.
Product thinking. Practical technology.
From complexity
to real progress.
I help businesses turn complex challenges into better products, smarter workflows and practical AI applications. From figuring out what to build to making it work.
Alex Mackay’s independent product & technology practice.
Start with the real problem.
The business goal, the people involved and the constraints that matter.
Give the solution a clear shape.
Product decisions, journeys and interfaces that make the idea tangible.
Put the technology in context.
The right tools, information and controls, working together.
Make it work in practice.
A useful release, tested with people and improved through use.
Better products.
Smarter systems. Practical progress.
Some problems need a better product. Others need a clearer process, more useful information or carefully applied AI. Understand the problem before choosing the technology.
Product strategy & design
An opportunity, a difficult product decision or an idea that needs a clearer shape.
A direction worth building towards.Explore this workAI applications & automation
Repetitive work, scattered knowledge or a process that could work better with the right support.
Useful systems, with the right controls.Explore this workProduct delivery & implementation
A promising concept or prototype that needs to become something people can use.
A working solution, grounded in reality.Explore this workThe same work.
A better way through it.
What changes when the right technology meets the right problem? Less time reassembling the context. More attention on the work that matters.
People hold the process together.
The work moves, but the context keeps getting lost.
01
An enquiry arrives
Shared inbox“Has anyone seen this?”02
Find the context
Search files & ask aroundThree versions of the same file03
Decide who owns it
Forward & follow up“Who’s picking this up?”04
Prepare a response
Start from scratchAnother copy and pasteUseful information exists. Reassembling it becomes a job of its own.
The system carries the context.
People spend their attention on the parts that need judgement.
01
An enquiry arrives
A shared, structured recordCaptured once02
Find the context
Relevant information togetherPermission-aware retrieval03
Decide who owns it
A clear owner & next actionVisible hand-off04
Prepare a response
An informed draft to reviewA person checks & sendsClearer software first. Automation where the rules are known. AI where interpretation helps.
Illustrative workflow. The right solution depends on the process; it may not need AI at all.
From challenge to
something that works.
Get close to the problem, make the idea tangible and learn as it develops. Select a stage to explore the questions and the work.
01Understand
Find the real problem.
The question
What is getting in the way, for whom, and why does it matter?
What you leave with
A shared problem definition and a view of the constraints.
02Shape
Choose a useful direction.
The question
Which assumptions need testing? What belongs in the first version?
What you leave with
A clear proposition, prioritised scope and a prototype to learn from.
03Build & test
Make the idea tangible.
The question
Does it work for the people using it? Where does it break?
What you leave with
A working prototype, feedback and decisions about what to change.
04Implement
Fit it into the real world.
The question
How will data, tools, access and day-to-day ownership work together?
What you leave with
A usable release, appropriate checks and a practical handover.
05Improve
Learn from actual use.
The question
What is helping? What needs adjusting? What is worth doing next?
What you leave with
A feedback loop and a focused next set of improvements.
Learn, revisit, refine. A working approach, not a one-way process.
What does useful AI
actually look like?
Useful AI connects the task, the right information and permitted tools, with a person in control of important decisions.
“Prepare me for tomorrow’s customer meeting.”
Illustrative exampleA standalone chatbot
“Here’s a suggested agenda and a few preparation tips.”
Useful advice. You still find the information.A connected workflow
The brief is prepared from the context you’ve permitted it to use.
Select a step to see the work behind it.Tomorrow, 10:00 · Acme customer review
Find tomorrow’s customer meeting in the calendar you have allowed the system to read.
Attendees identified from the invitation. If there are two plausible meetings, ask which one.
Permitted sources onlyReview before action
Account context, brought together
Retrieve relevant records, recent exchanges and documents within the user’s permissions.
Current objectives, the last conversation and open actions. Missing or conflicting records stay visible.
Permitted sources onlyReview before action
A source-backed view of what changed
Look for relevant company developments. Keep sources attached and distinguish evidence from interpretation.
Recent updates sit beside their source links. Uncertain matches are flagged rather than treated as facts.
Permitted sources onlyReview before action
Your meeting brief
Assemble a concise briefing around the purpose of the meeting, with open questions and gaps.
Account summary · previous commitments · suggested discussion points · questions to clarify.
Permitted sources onlyReview before action
Ready for your judgement
Check the evidence, correct the gaps and decide what to use. Nothing is emailed or committed on your behalf.
The system gathers and prepares. You decide what matters, what is correct and what happens next.
Permitted sources onlyReview before action
A design illustration, not a client delivery or a live integration. No tools are connected and no data is sent.
Technology should
make something better.
The point is a useful change in how the business works. Start with what better should look like, then design and test towards it.
Useful information, within reach
Bring the relevant context into the moment someone needs it.
A clearer product direction
Test important assumptions before committing to a bigger build.
Better-informed decisions
Make evidence, trade-offs and uncertainty easier to see.
Systems that fit together
Connect the hand-offs instead of adding another isolated tool.
A better everyday experience
Design around the customers and teams doing the work.
A little of what
I’ve worked on.
Actual products, the decisions behind them and my contribution.
From a will-writing proposition to an employee education platform and an AI-assisted publishing workflow.
£1.2m qualified pipeline through the accompanying GTM system. Pipeline, not booked revenue.
Product strategy · UX/UI · Publishing workflowsView case study
Product direction and experience design for connected client information, documents and adviser casework.
A clearer relationship between the client context, the next action and adviser review.
Product direction · Workflow design · UX/UIView case study
Making sense of
what’s changing.
One complicated idea. A clearer way to think about it.
A visual, practical guideAgents, loops
Agents, loops
and harnesses.
How the pieces fit together, what’s genuinely new, and what it means for your work and your day.
Read the guide
Alex Mackay · Founder, revarc
A business perspective.
A product mindset.
My background spans security engineering, enterprise software, BCG Platinion consulting and product marketing. Today, I bring those perspectives together to shape products, design useful systems and drive implementation.
More about meHave a problem
worth solving?
Whether you’re exploring an idea, improving a process or figuring out where AI fits, I’d be happy to talk.