Company-X director Jeremy Hughes had an excellent adventure when he was named a finalist in the 2016 New Zealand Excellence in IT Awards.
Hughes, who founded the Hamilton software specialist with David Hallett, was nominated for the Excellence in Public Sector IT award for his work creating a tool that could analyse and report on the nation’s roading data.
“I was blown away to be nominated,” said Hughes, who was joined at the awards night in Wellington by Road Efficiency Data Sub Group chair Dawn Inglis.
Inglis asked Hughes, on behalf of the Road Efficiency Data Sub Group, to build a software-based tool that would help its members understand their data sets better. It would also guide better investment decision making on roading maintenance and renewals nationally.
The group, comprising the New Zealand Transport Agency, Local Government New Zealand and the Road Controlling Authorities Forum, needed the tool to enable data analysis and reporting for New Zealand’s councils.
“Jeremy’s work in leading the client team through this development work was extremely valuable,” said Inglis.
“The project was on a tight timeline and he and the team at Company-X delivered. It was great to see Jeremy recognised by his peers as a finalist in the Excellence in IT Awards for his professionalism, passion and commitment."
Hallett was pleased his business partner had been nominated for the award.
“It was a very well deserved award nomination for the Excellence in Public Sector IT award since Jeremy worked so hard to ensure that Dawn and the members of the Road Efficiency Data Sub Group that she chaired were more than satisfied with the end result,” Hallett said.
Hughes and his team came up with the One Network Road Classification Performance Measures Reporting Tool, developing it through an agile approach which meant the end user got to try it early on in the project as the Company-X software development team pressed on with improvements.
“Having an agile approach, and lots of frequent releases of new iterations of the tool, meant that people got to see it early, play with it, and see it regularly upgraded. Each time it was another step along the journey for the users,” Hughes said.
The Excellence in IT Awards process saw Hughes appear before a panel of expert judges who questioned him on the project and peer-reviewed it as part of the judging process.
“I was really happy that our peers in the IT industry had looked in on a project that we had run. To have them look in and say that is IT excellence is very affirming,” Hughes said.
“There were some real specialists on the judging panel. In talking with them I recognised that one of the challenges unique to our project was that we had 60 plus councils that we had to bring along with us on the project. That was one of the things that made our approach very successful.”
While Hughes’s name was on the award nomination form, he said the nomination recognised the work his team had done in partnership with the Road Efficiency Group.
“Being a finalist in that award is the result of a group effort. It’s the result of the Road Efficiency Group having the courage to take an agile approach on the project and comes from a very
collaborative approach.”
The New Zealand Excellence in IT Awards are sector-wide awards recognising the individuals and teams who have truly excelled in the industry. While other awards focus on companies and vendors, the Excellence in IT Awards exclusively celebrates our people. What makes the Excellence in IT Awards different is that it recognises the real people behind software and information technology – the people that make IT work. The unsung heroes and champions of the sector.
The Excellence in IT Awards are coordinated by the Institute of IT Professionals in partnership with a range of IT-related bodies.