A different kind of complex
THE
SOLVER
COMPLEX
The compulsion to fix problems that aren't yours to fix. Not from ego. Not from a need to be the hero. From an inability to walk past a problem you can already see the solution to. It's been called unfocused. Scattered. A liability. It was always a calling — with a bandwidth problem.
Savior Complex
Ego-driven. Inserts itself as the hero. Needs credit. Defines itself by being needed. The problem is secondary to the role.
Solver Complex
Empathy-driven. Can't walk away. Doesn't need the spotlight. Defines itself by the problem disappearing. The role is irrelevant.
"I didn't build a CRM because I wanted to be a developer. I built it because a company I cared about was hemorrhaging money on a system that didn't fit them — and I could see exactly what would. I couldn't not build it."
That's what a Solver Complex sounds like from the inside
Act I — The Evidence
Problems That
Weren't Mine to Solve
Look at 30 years of work through the right lens and a pattern emerges. Every major project, every late night, every side mission — it was always someone else's problem. Not because I was asked. Because I couldn't look away once I saw it.
A Company's Problem
"We're paying a fortune for software that doesn't fit how we actually work."
A 150-person customs brokerage firm was locked into licensing costs that made no sense for their operation. I built them a custom CRM from scratch — 227,000+ message records, Microsoft 365 integration, role-based access, full audit trail.
Result: $1.2 million saved in licensing costs
A Mother's Problem
"She's losing her footing, and we can't be there every minute."
My mother's dementia was progressing. She lives with my sister, but the gaps between moments of connection were growing. I built her an iPad app — gentle affirmations, family messages, a calm and accessible interface designed for someone whose world is shrinking.
Result: One person feels less alone
A Community's Problem
"Savannah's arts scene is fragmented. Shows compete. People don't collaborate. No one has the full picture."
During a production of Mamma Mia in 2018 I saw it clearly enough that I couldn't leave it alone. Founded the Savannah Performance Alliance, launched OnStageSavannah.com, co-founded the Savannah Performing Arts Festival, produced 100+ podcast episodes.
Result: A community that coordinates instead of competes
A Learner's Problem
"The tools for creating and delivering learning are either too expensive or too rigid."
Years of working in instructional design and eLearning media showed me the gap between what educators need and what enterprise LMS platforms actually provide. I built TASK-LMS — a full learning management system integrated with task management, built for how learning actually works.
Result: A system designed around the learner, not the vendor
The historic limitation
The Solver's
Constraint
Before AI collaboration
You had to triage. More problems than time. Every yes was a no to something else. The problem you couldn't get to kept you up at night.
Execution took weeks. The gap between seeing the solution and shipping it was wide enough that momentum died. Sometimes the problem moved on without you.
Domain crossings were costly. Solving a care problem with a tech solution required skills you might not have. You'd need a team — or you'd have to let it go.
Your solutions didn't scale. You solved it for one person, one company, one community. Then you had to be there to maintain it. The Solver became a bottleneck.
With AI collaboration
You can solve in parallel. The bottleneck is no longer execution speed. It's clarity of understanding — which is exactly where 30 years of domain depth lives.
Execution matches imagination. The gap between seeing the solution and shipping it has collapsed. The problem doesn't have time to move on.
Domain crossings are navigable. A care problem that needs a technical solution no longer requires a team. You bring the empathy and context. AI brings the execution range.
Solutions become products. What you build for one person can serve thousands. The Solver stops being a bottleneck and becomes an architect.
Act II — The Reframe
It Was Never
a Liability
Motion graphics. Web development. eLearning media. Enterprise IT. Instructional design. Theater. Voice acting. Nonprofit leadership. For years I carried that résumé with a quiet apology. I couldn't explain why I'd crossed so many lanes.
Now I can. Every lane was a different problem domain. Every pivot was the Solver Complex refusing to stay in one room. I wasn't scattered — I was accumulating the breadth of understanding that makes an AI collaborator genuinely effective.
You can't prompt what you don't understand. You can't evaluate what you've never built. You can't identify the real problem if you've only ever lived in one world. The polymath wasn't ahead of their time. They were training for this exact moment.
The training log
Every Role Was
a Deposit
BFA in Animation — SCAD
The foundation. Learned to think in motion, character, narrative, and time. Also developed the creative obsession that makes solving feel like play.
Motion Graphics
Translated animation into broadcast and production contexts. Learned that motion is a language — and that visual communication is problem-solving at its most immediate.
Media Developer
SCAD
Built educational media for a major art and design university. Learned that the hardest problem in communication is making someone else genuinely understand something. This is the problem instructional design exists to solve.
IT Developer
SCAD
Pivoted from media into systems within the same institution. Began building the technical fluency that would later let me solve problems across the full stack — not just design them.
Web Dev → App Dev → Media Designer for eLearning
Freelance · Gulfstream Aerospace + others
Seven years moving between clients, industries, and problem types. Built websites, applications, and learning media. Each engagement was a new problem domain. The Solver Complex was running the career.
Instructional Designer
SCAD
The role that named what all the others had been building toward. Designing learning experiences — the synthesis of media, development, empathy, and communication. The shortest role. The clearest signal.
Director of IT Services
John S. James Company
150+ employees. Six offices. Complex customs brokerage operations. Built a CRM that saved $1.2M. Managed enterprise infrastructure. And quietly kept every other skill sharp — because the Solver Complex doesn't clock out.
Running in parallel — the entire time
Stage actor since 2011 — Historic Savannah Theatre, Savannah Children's Theatre. Voice actor with credits including the animated feature Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog. Founder & Executive Director of the Savannah Performance Alliance (2018), co-founder of the Savannah Performing Arts Festival, producer of 100+ podcast episodes. None of this was recreation. It was the Solver Complex finding more problems to fix.
AI Collaborator — Claude Code
Every domain. Simultaneously.
The bandwidth constraint lifted. Twelve applications in under two years — not because the problems changed, but because the Solver finally had execution speed to match the vision. The training was complete. This is what it was for.
The Work
12 Problems Solved · 1 Person · AI CollaborationA company's problem
JSJ Customs Dashboard
Real-time CBP operations dashboard parsing ABI, AES, and DIS data. Tariff decision trees for 2026 trade compliance. HTS lookup across 35,720 entries. Built because the operations team needed visibility they didn't have.
A company's problem
Johns James CRM
Custom CRM with 227,000+ records, Microsoft 365 SSO, and role-based access. Built because a system that fit the actual workflow didn't exist at a price that made sense.
A family's problem
Donna's iPad App
Dementia support app — gentle affirmations, family messaging, an interface designed for someone whose world is changing. Built because the gap between "I see what she needs" and "I can build that" finally closed.
A community's problem
OnStageSavannah / SPA
Platform and organization built to coordinate Savannah's fragmented performing arts community. Because a community that competes against itself wastes energy that should go into the work.
A learner's problem
TASK-LMS
Full learning management system for course creation, enrollment, and progress tracking. Integrated with TaskQueue. Built because learning tools shouldn't require an enterprise budget.
A creator's problem
Eastwind
Node-based motion graphics editor for macOS. GPU-accelerated Metal rendering. Because the animator in me always wanted a tool that worked the way I think — and now I could build it.
A team's problem
TaskQueue Teams
Team project and task management with external API and cross-app activity feeds. The productivity spine of the whole ecosystem.
An infrastructure problem
Cross-App Integration
Shared Cloud SQL, unified identity, and cross-app activity feeds connecting the full ecosystem. Because siloed tools create siloed thinking.
A personal problem
Budget Tracker
Personal finance tracking with categories and analytics. Part of the shared infrastructure. Built because the Solver eventually turns the lens inward too.
A scheduling problem
TaskCal
Calendar app for task scheduling and time management, integrated with the TaskQueue ecosystem.
An event's problem
TEDx Speaker Review
Speaker submission and review platform for TEDx event curation. Built to solve the coordination problem behind the scenes of a public event.
A performer's problem
CabaretPlayer
Custom media player for cabaret and live performance. Built by someone who's been on both sides of the stage — and knows what the performer actually needs in the moment.
Explore the domains
The Work
In Detail
IT Projects
Enterprise systems, custom applications, and technical infrastructure built to solve real problems.
→Learning Design
Instructional design, eLearning media, and educational technology spanning two decades.
→Acting
Stage, voice, and screen work — the parallel career that taught empathy and presence.
→You already know who you are
WHAT PROBLEM
CAN'T YOU
WALK PAST?
The Solver Complex was never the problem. The bandwidth was. That constraint is gone. The question now is what you build with the time you've been waiting for.