Bryan McNamara / Creative technologist
Strategy, technology, and the human bit in between.
I work across public service, product development, applied AI, operations, and people. This is an archive of the things I have built, led, learned, and loved along the way.
14
years across public service, technology, gaming, and media
03
founders turned into a 22-person business
∞
things I am still curious about
01 / things I built
Ideas are more interesting once they work.
These are the products that make the story tangible: four different problems, four different contexts, and a repeated instinct to turn complexity into something people can actually use.
Check-In: Physique
A private, local-first progress photo app for seeing change through repeatable poses and comparisons.
Build insight
Consistency is the feature: repeatable poses make progress easier to see.
Front, side, back, and custom poses
Same-pose comparison with a slider
Photos and progress stay on device by default
Clear Scales
A private, local-first weight tracker for seeing the trend behind each entry.
Build insight
Direction matters more than a single noisy daily reading.
Latest entry plus trend weight
Weekly recaps, averages, lows, and reports
Goals, cadence, and optional HealthKit
Sheet of Holding
An advanced online D&D character sheet for keeping the rules-heavy bits ready for play.
Build insight
The sheet should support play, not interrupt it.
Core stats, HP, AC, and abilities
Spells, inventory, features, and notes
Quick reference while the table is moving
Housing App
A decision tool for understanding affordability, support pathways, and what to explore next.
Build insight
Policy becomes useful when people can see how the pieces interact.
Affordability inputs and outcomes
Support schemes and pathways
Clear next steps without a wall of policy
02 / perspective
I like making complicated things feel possible.
People tend to come to me when something is technical, ambiguous, or humanly stuck. I try to understand the shape of the problem first, then help widen the frame until a way forward appears.
Strategy
The work behind the work: decisions, priorities, governance, and a route from intention to delivery.
Technology
Products, interfaces, AI-assisted development, and an appetite for understanding how the tools really behave.
People
Calm coaching, better conversations, and the useful human context that makes change stick.
03 / applied AI
Working with agents, with both eyes open.
I use Codex daily alongside Cursor and Claude for research, product thinking, interface work, and development. It has helped me build iOS, Android, and web products without starting from a formal software-engineering background.
Daily practice
Codex / Cursor / Claude
The agent is not the authority. I still define the problem, verify the behaviour, and keep the user in control.
Research
Use AI to move from a question to useful context without losing the original problem.
Build
Turn a rough idea into a working product, then keep shaping it until the experience feels right.
Verify
Test the output, challenge the assumptions, and refine the parts that do not hold up.
04 / archive
A career assembled from several different lives.
The useful thread is not one job title. It is learning how to move between ideas, systems, products, numbers, communities, and people without losing the plot.
Check-In guides recurring check-ins through front, side, back, and custom poses, then makes same-pose comparisons easy to revisit. Photos, measurements, conditions, and notes stay together in a calm, private tool for noticing meaningful change.
Evidence
- Front, side, back, and custom poses
- Same-pose comparison with a slider
- Photos and progress stay on device by default
Clear Scales brings logging, trend weight, weekly recaps, averages, lows, reports, goals, and flexible cadence into one focused experience. It is local-first by design, with optional HealthKit connections, widgets, backups, and exports kept under the user's control.
Evidence
- Latest entry plus trend weight
- Weekly recaps, averages, lows, and reports
- Goals, cadence, and optional HealthKit
Sheet of Holding turns the familiar character sheet into an online workspace for core stats, HP, AC, abilities, spells, inventory, features, effects, and notes. It is a product born from wanting the table experience to feel less like admin.
Evidence
- Core stats, HP, AC, and abilities
- Spells, inventory, features, and notes
- Quick reference while the table is moving
The Housing App helps people see what they may be able to afford and which schemes and options are worth exploring. It turns a complicated housing journey into a sequence of inputs, eligibility questions, comparisons, and next steps.
Evidence
- Affordability inputs and outcomes
- Support schemes and pathways
- Clear next steps without a wall of policy
I led the business case, budget, procurement, requirements, governance, stakeholder coordination, content migration, accessibility work, and launch planning for a major Housing Agency website redevelopment. The work brought 15 internal teams and external suppliers into one delivery rhythm and landed on time and under budget.
Evidence
- 15 internal teams and external suppliers
- Delivered on time
- Delivered under budget
I am shaping a digital learning platform for training and upskilling across local authorities, approved housing bodies, state agencies, and the wider housing sector. It is an exercise in making a complicated ecosystem feel navigable, useful, and ready to grow.
Evidence
- Cross-sector audience
- Focused on practical upskilling
- Designed for a public-service context
I helped grow RAID Studios from three founders into a 22-person international business with more than €2m in annual revenue. Alongside CEO and CFO responsibilities, I led client and partner work, managed up to ten direct reports, and made coaching and development a central part of the culture.
Evidence
- 3 founders → 22 employees
- >€2m annual revenue
- Up to 10 direct reports
I founded Geek Ireland as an online media and events platform, growing it to roughly 200,000 unique users per month with a community of volunteers and contributors. It was sold to DMG Media Ireland in 2019.
Evidence
- ~200k unique users per month
- 12 volunteers and contributors
- Sold in 2019
05 / career
The through-line is range.
A quick timeline of the roles that taught me how to think in different currencies: policy, money, communities, products, and people.
From three founders to a 22-person business
RAID Studios grew into an international business with more than €2m in annual revenue, and coaching stayed central to the way I led it.
See the evidenceA major website across 15 teams
I took the Housing Agency redevelopment from business case and procurement through governance, migration, accessibility, and launch — on time and under budget.
See the evidenceAn audience of roughly 200,000 monthly users
Geek Ireland became an online media and events platform with a volunteer community, before being sold to DMG Media Ireland in 2019.
See the evidenceFinance, gaming, media, housing, and product
The route has never been a straight line. Each chapter added a different way to understand systems, people, and what makes an idea useful.
Senior Staff Officer, Policy and Practice
The Housing Agency
Complex cross-organisational projects, senior management and CEO engagement, conference delivery, and practical AI-assisted workflows.
Co-founder and CEO
RAID Studios
A seven-year run growing an international business from three founders to 22 people, while leading client work, operations, finance, and the development of the people around me.
Senior Community Manager / Project Lead
Riot Games
Esports and competitive play across English-speaking Europe, connecting community, product, and delivery.
Founder
Geek Ireland
An online media and events platform built from a genuine love of the weird and wonderful, grown with volunteers and contributors before its sale in 2019.
Senior Financial Analyst
AOL Ireland
Financial analysis, forecasting, and commercial evaluation in a fast-moving technology and media environment.
06 / capabilities
Useful at the joins between disciplines.
I am most useful where the answer is not owned by one function. Each capability below points back to something concrete in the archive.
Strategy and delivery
Turning ambiguity into a sequence of decisions, responsibilities, and things that can actually ship.
Applied AI and agentic tools
Using Codex, Cursor, and Claude as daily research, product, and development partners.
Product building
Moving from a rough idea to an opinionated, usable product through iteration and feedback.
People and coaching
Calm, open, collaborative coaching that helps people reframe problems and widen their view of the way forward.
07 / learning
Still becoming more useful.
The formal qualifications matter, but so does the habit underneath them: keep learning, then put the learning to work.
MA Leadership & Strategy
Institute of Public Administration — commencing.
Professional Diploma in Housing Studies
NFQ Level 8, 68% / 2.1; major essay awarded 85%.
Professional Diploma in Project Management
University College Dublin — distinction.
QQI Level 5 Exercise & Fitness
CMIT — distinction; qualified personal trainer.
Accounting Technician
Accounting & Taxation NFQ Level 6 — distinction.
Professional Scrum Master II
Scrum.org qualification.
08 / beyond work
The nerdy bits are not a footnote.
The gym gives me discipline. Climbing gives me connection. D&D gives me a way to be expressive with friends. Warhammer and science fiction give me worlds to disappear into. Games give me systems to pick apart.
Gym
Six days a week. I became a qualified personal trainer to understand the craft of building the body I want.
Climbing
A shared activity with Conor, and a good reminder that progress is usually a sequence of small decisions.
D&D
A way to stay connected to friends, be expressive, and make things up together.
Warhammer
Deep, ridiculous, endlessly interesting fantasy — currently mostly consumed through audiobooks.
Science fiction
Star Trek, Stargate, and the kind of worlds that make ordinary problems feel usefully small.
Games
I play a lot of video games. The systems, stories, and tiny decisions are hard to resist.
09 / contact
Let's talk about something interesting.
If the archive made you curious, I am usually happy to continue the conversation. Email is best; LinkedIn is also right there.