Reviews

All in a day's work - SEN software creator
Special Children, June/July 2003

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I haven't always done this! I was the IT co-ordinator in a special school for children with learning difficulties, before deciding to set up Crick Software in 1993. I thought, wouldn't it be great if there was a piece of software to help our children to write. Something that provided banks of whole words, pictures and phrases, and most importantly, that was easy for the teacher to set up. In fact, a program that was so easy to use that the teacher could even set up lists during the lesson, as the children suggested words to them. This idea coincided with my wife Ann, also a teacher, going back to work after a break. So, she earned the money for us to live on whilst I set about writing the software. Before I could do that though, I had to learn the 'C' programming language and plan the software in code!

In summer 1994, I started showing Clicker, and to my delight, everyone really liked it! I followed this up with the BETT exhibition in London - four days on my own from 10am until 6pm without any breakfast. It nearly killed me, but the buzz when I showed Clicker was wonderful! I did take a break, for the awards ceremony that I had been told to attend as I had won something! I was completely overwhelmed when I was given the gold award for Clicker! This kept me on my feet for the rest of the show! At this stage I was still developing the product, duplicating the disks, invoicing and packing, then taking the packages to the post office for delivery. Before long, I took on a part-time member of staff and have never looked back.

My role has changed dramatically since those first few months and years. Instead of doing everything myself, I now have a really talented team of people. Every single person in that team, can fulfill their role a thousand times better than I could. Nowadays, I don't get involved in programming, but I am still heavily involved in the development of the user interface and product features. In fact, probably over 50% of my time is involved in meetings now, overseeing the growing business and team. There are sixteen of us based in Northampton, and the new US Company is really starting to take off. There are four people in the Seattle office and they're beginning to get that buzz over there that we had when I first started showing Clicker.

As for a day's work, my days are very varied. I think it's important for us all to be working towards the same goals, and as such we have a weekly meeting every Monday morning to ensure that we all know about the plans for the coming week and any other important developments. In a given week, we could have people out at exhibitions, speaking at regional conferences and seminars, training and helping out with exhibitions in the US.

I then meet with the curriculum team (all qualified teachers and managed by Ann who was previously the Head of English at a special school). We're currently working on releasing the B sets for our new Planet Wobble series of fiction books. Based on a fictional planet, these stories follow the adventures of six children and aim to be inclusive and cross-cultural. These books and associated Clicker activities are created by the Curriculum team. The first sets were launched at BETT 2002 and we sold out of our first batch within a month. We are just looking at some exciting new activities for the web site at www.planetwobble.com.

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