Mohamed Hisham
06:30, blinds up, coffee on
I draw the architecture, then make it hold.
- Director of Enterprise Architecture, RTG
15years in the industry
11of them at Robusta Technology Group (RTG)
08:00, home office
Coffee first, then the briefing.
Jarvis, his home assistant, reads him the morning briefing. Then he plans the day.
What I do
Six things I do, and where you can see them.
Each one has a place in the room. Keep scrolling and the camera will show you.
i. The screens
AI and data transformation
ii. The board
Enterprise architecture
iii. The chair
Engineering leadership
iv. The busy bar
Cross-functional delivery
v. The bookshelf
Technology strategy
vi. Jarvis on the shelf
Building with AI agents
What changes
Before I arrive, and after.
Six kinds of mess I walk into, and what they look like when I leave. Drag the line to compare.
i. AI and data transformation
Most companies already have the data. It sits in six systems that disagree with each other. I start by making one of them the truth, then put AI where people already do their work, not in a pilot nobody opens.
ii. Enterprise architecture
I map how the business actually runs before deciding how the systems should. System design and wireframes come before anything reaches a backlog, so teams build the right thing once.
iii. Engineering leadership
I have led engineering teams for more than a decade, from five people to over thirty. Good teams need clear ownership and room to focus. My job is to give them both.
iv. Cross-functional delivery
Strategy, sales, design and engineering speak different languages. I sit between them and make sure what was promised is what gets built, with a number behind every claim.
v. Technology strategy
I help leadership decide what to build, what to buy and what to stop paying for. A roadmap is only useful if it says no to things and the budget behind it is honest.
vi. Building with AI agents
I work next to a small team of AI agents every day, at work and at home. They write, check and run things while I decide. It changed how I scope work and how big a team needs to be.
10:00, busy bar says coding
Deep in the code.
Two monitors, one coffee, and a handful of agents working next to him.
History
Fifteen years, eleven releases.
15 years in the industry, 11 of them at Robusta Technology Group (RTG). Every role was a new version of how I work, and each one left a note.
The bright line is the main job. The thinner ones ran alongside it.
Android Developermash Ltd.
Shipping something people hold in their hand beats a perfect plan on paper.
- Built native Android apps for the startup's products.
- Wrote a score keeping app for a card game.
- Shipped the alpha of a visual project planning tool on Android.
Ruby on Rails Developermash Ltd.
Most of a product lives on the server. I learned to care about the data before the screens.
- Built web applications across the startup's products, from group buying to small business tools.
- Designed and looked after the relational and document databases behind them.
- Wrote automated tests for behaviour and for units.
- Worked in agile sprints and shaped the user experience and responsive layouts.
Freelance Rails DeveloperIndependent
When the client is also the boss, agreeing the scope is half the job.
Senior Rails DeveloperRobusta
Joined a team with real standards. Code review taught me more than any course had.
Team LeaderRobusta
I stopped counting my day in lines of code and started counting what the team shipped.
- Ran Scrum for several web projects as the team's Scrum master.
- Gathered requirements with clients and turned them into user stories and project plans.
- Led a team of five engineers, with mentoring and code review.
- Led and built the company's first in house product, for team productivity and time tracking.
- Designed APIs for mobile apps and for third parties.
Senior Technical Account ManagerRobusta
Most technical problems arrive as business problems first. Listen for the number behind the complaint.
- Filled the gap between clients and engineers, as product owner and account manager.
- Led architecture and scoping workshops with clients.
- Wrote technical proposals and created the template we used for them.
- Wrote user stories so teams could work in Scrum.
- Designed APIs for mobile apps and for third parties.
Solutions ArchitectRobusta
Draw the system before anyone builds it. A box on a whiteboard is cheaper to move than a service in production.
- Led architecture and scoping workshops with clients.
- Turned what the workshops agreed into architecture manifestos and decision records.
- Assessed the architecture of existing platforms.
- Turned project requirements into user stories.
- Mentored Scrum masters and reviewed engineers' code.
Software Engineering ManagerRobusta
Hiring and team shape are architecture too. A team ships the shape of its org chart.
- Ran the engineering process together with the head of engineering.
- Led the production team that automated delivery and operations.
- Was the technical voice in sales pitches and business conversations.
- Helped product owners and Scrum masters with plans and good practice.
- Ran software architecture workshops and took part in design sprints.
Deputy General Manager, AppsRobusta
The work started to carry a price. Every technical choice became a business choice.
- Led the operations team, how it was staffed and how its people grew.
- Wrote operations proposals to support sales.
- Mentored Scrum masters on agile process and project management.
Apps Business Unit LeadRobusta
Running a unit is mostly deciding what we will not build.
- Led delivery for the web and mobile apps unit, with over thirty engineers.
- Delivered the unit's projects to the plan we set.
- Was the technical reference in sales pitches and business conversations.
- Ran the engineering process with the CTO.
- Led software architecture workshops and mentored engineers through code review.
Director of Enterprise ArchitectureRTG
Across a group, the job is one source of truth and fewer systems that disagree.
- Lead data and systems work across the group's companies, business units and markets.
- Build data pipelines and automated scorecards so every department reads the same numbers.
- Run the rollout of one ERP across companies in several countries, and own its backlog.
- Shape an internal employee portal that puts people, policies and tools in one place.
- Define a shared language of departments and offerings so systems and reports agree.
Running alongside
- Sept 2013 to Nov 2014
MSc Software Engineering, DistinctionUniversity of Southampton
- May 2018 to Apr 2020
Tutor, 1 Million Arab CodersUdacity
- Apr 2020 to Nov 2020
Software Engineering ManagerOLX Egypt
- Led the engineering team in partnership with Robusta.
- Acted as product owner and UX researcher.
- Ran weekly sprints.
- Set up the process the team used to work on the product.
- Sept 2020 to now
Senior Technical ConsultantFreelance
- Turn stakeholders' business needs into technical solutions.
- Design software architectures that fit what the client is trying to do.
- Mentor project teams and keep the bar high.
- Help organisations go digital by connecting their systems and moving work to the cloud.
- Worked with governments, multinationals and startups in the US, Europe, the Gulf and Egypt.
- Mar 2015 to Dec 2025
DevOps LeadRobusta Technology Group (RTG)
- Led the team that automated how we build, ship and run software.
- Set the delivery and operations practices engineering teams followed.
- Mar 2015 to Sept 2026
Acting IT AdminRobusta Technology Group (RTG)
- Ran the company's IT alongside my main role: accounts, devices, access and shared tools.
Earned along the way
MSc in Software Engineering, with DistinctionUniversity of Southampton
Claude Academy: Claude Code in ActionAnthropic
Claude Academy: Claude Code 101Anthropic
Claude Academy: Claude 101Anthropic
Claude Academy: Introduction to Claude CoworkAnthropic
Claude Code in ActionAnthropic
Introduction to Claude CoworkAnthropic
Claude 101Anthropic
GovStack Architects Program 2024GovStack
GovStack Digital Registries Building BlockGovStack
GovStack Identity Building BlockGovStack
GovStack Workflow Building BlockGovStack
13:45, the busy bar is lit
On a call. Don't knock.
The agents carry on without him.
How I think
Rules I run on.
Written the way I write automations at home: when this happens, do that. Each one runs on its own. Pick one to run it again.
automation.truth
waiting
Where the work went
Five countries, one desk in Cairo.
Clients I have worked with, by country.
Egypt34
- Vodafone
- Orascom Development
- Fawry
- Orange Egypt
- Al Ahly
- Dsquares
- Uppingham
- Govtech
- Faragalla
- Befit 360
- Manara Schools
- Voom
- Motherbeing
- Cilantro
- Bluebus
- AlHassan Foundation
- NawaPro
- GoBus
- Chemipharm
- MasterEd
- AppsNow
- Menabytes
- Do.er
- MallBuddy
- GS1 Egypt
- SeaShell
- JCareer
- PassApp
- RecForFree
- Mirqah
- Couponat
- P&G
- filkhedma
- shebang
Saudi Arabia5
- Govtech
- Palladium
- Meshkati Solutions
- HUED
- Enjz
United Arab Emirates1
- OLX MENA
Germany5
- GIZ
- Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
- Trusted Jobs
- Hospitality Digital
- Transparency At Work
United States1
- FarmRaiser
23:00, blinds closed
Offline. The agents aren't.
If you are working on something messy and want it to hold, write to me.
info@mohamedhisham.me