WHO WE ARE
A product and service company
We’re an award-winning team of thinkers and makers that have helped some of the UK’s most successful businesses with their digital products and services.
With specialists in design, technology, product delivery, digital strategy and organisational change, we wrap cross-disciplinary teams around your business to drive the outcomes you need to compete.
Making things, changing behaviours, driving effectiveness.
A different kind of company, part consultant, part craft experts
Our industry has changed dramatically since we built our first digital products back in 1999.
Our attitudes, beliefs and approaches have continually changed as we’ve adapted. Years ago, we recognised we need to design our company to constantly evolve so we can always help our partners with their rapidly changing customer and market needs.
HOW WE THINK
Modern businesses should conform to a new set of rules
Modern businesses need a new type of agency relationship.
A relationship that looks at driving business outcomes by working hard together on the right things – the things your customers actually want.
A flexible relationship that can work across the business – challenging cultural norms and modernising customer experiences whilst enhancing internal skills and capabilities.
We created our Studio Manifesto to describe how we think today.
Solve problems over Predefined solutions
Businesses often feel a responsibility to have the answers to their problem already defined as they approach an external agency for advice. This is often very well-meaning, but it restricts the ability of the agency to consult and do the right thing over the thing that has been asked for.
Instead, we spend time with our partners in the problem space for longer. Yes, it can feel like a backwards step, but often the solutions are quicker, more creative and deliver a better outcome.
Experiences over Designs
Customers engage with brands over a host of media, marketing and digital touch-points. Crafting and understanding that experience such that we can persuade the individual to take the actions they want is the goal we are working towards.
The visual design of course has to be beautiful and well-considered, but a beautiful design that is not useful can never be truly beautiful.
Product over Project
Software systems need to be able to pivot and change shape as your business and your market demands it.
Thinking in terms of projects fundamentally hinders this ability. Projects are often fixed. Fixed scope, fixed price, fixed time. These hard parameters often lead to poor engineering standards – but importantly drives a lack of focus on what really matters. Delivering outcomes.
Think instead of your software as a product which is continually improved and it will always be adaptable and drive the outcomes you need as your market shifts in the future.
Value over Volume
Often businesses want to change a lot all at once when replacing old systems. However often we find only a fraction of the existing system holds value to the organisation. The majority is either legacy or not used by customers.
If we change the most valuable things first, we will see a greater commercial return faster. Why change 100 things when you can change the right 10 things and see even better results?
Insights over Opinion
Initiatives driven by the needs and wants of internal teams need backing up with insight and evidence from your customers, your market and your commercial data.
Projects that only have an internal lens will not be as effective as those that are insight-driven and based on the wider needs of the organisation and the real needs of your customers. So we strive to validate your beliefs our ideas and with real people at every point in our relationship.
Iterative over Big bang
The history books of digital system replacement are littered with over-ambitious software projects that failed.
Sometimes ‘big bang’ software projects don’t even get released because they are too unwieldy and affect too many elements of a business system.
Instead, modern organisations are developing architectural software approaches that allow the release of new experiences every day. Sometimes every hour. Working iteratively ensures that you are always able to respond to changes in the market and grow the business at pace.
Adaptability over Process
Business priorities have a habit of changing all the time. Detailed scoping documentation is often irrelevant once a true appreciation of what is needed starts to emerge from working together.
There is little value in plodding along a project plan if we are heading in the wrong direction. That’s why developing an agile mindset to delivering the most important things in the order in which we discover them is vital to driving a successful outcome.
HOW WE WORK
Why Code?
Value first approach
We spend time working on the business case to understand the goals of your organisation.
This allows us to quickly assess where we should start to design and build new experiences in your digital business system to see the greatest commercial returns.
Ship fast, learn fast
Working fast in short cycles allows us to prototype and test our ideas rapidly.
Getting new experiences into the hands of your users allows us to learn from our thinking, and make important improvements before we commit to software development.
We augment around you
Our multidisciplinary teams work best when they are able to augment around your people.
We work together to define the problems and design the solutions we need to succeed. Working together allows us to coach by doing – leaving you more self-sufficient as we go.
Culture
Why we call ourselves Computerlovers
We invest time nurturing our talent and creating an environment that lets brilliant people shine and do their best work together.
Code's leadership team
Decades of experience is how we get results.
Gemma is a master of several product development practices and leads Code's internal development and continual improvement.
Gemma Handley
Managing Director
Tony founded Code in 1999 and today his focus is on vision, culture and continual evolution.
Tony Foggett
Founder
Co-founding Code in 1999, today Louis' focus is on coaching and organisational design and transformation
Louis Georgiou
Founder
With 20 years experience in product ownership and product management in leading .coms, Claire drives lean/agile delivery at Code.
Claire Kerley
Delivery Director
Mark has been with Code for 18 years and shaped our transformation from design and build agency to lean product studio.
Mark Sharp
Operations Director
Dave has been a tech leader for over 20 years for many of the UK's leading .coms.
Dave Heath
Technology Director
Steve helps businesses with digital transformation, design thinking and lean technology implementation through a people first approach.
Steve Peters
Business Development Director
More than 20 years experience, designing for brand, market, business and customer needs to get results.
Chris Heg
Design Director
Ric has been with Code for 10 years and is responsible for our financial and legal operations.
Richard Chapman
Head of Finance
Jess is the unfaltering voice of the customer. Passionate about the power of UX research for effective design processes.
Jessica Sherratt
Head of UX
Colin is an advocate of Human Centred design and applying modern design methods to tackle business challenges.
Colin Preston
Head of Design
Jamie embeds experimentation tools and practices into our cross-discipline product teams, and develops new opportunities for driving experimentation in our core disciplines.
Jamie Evawin
Head of Experimentation
Seeing the bigger picture
We are part of the
MediaCom North Group
A partnership of specialist businesses with skills to own every moment of the customer experience and build the right business for the future.
MediaCom
Media and advertising
Code
Digital product and service
Cheetham Bell
Content and creative
Events
We host digital community events
Looking for an event space in Manchester?
Our space is open for any local digital communities to use, totally free of charge.
It’s one small way we help growing digital interest groups.
Email us at hello@codecomputerlove.com with your enquiry and we’ll be in touch.