Bringing Marshal Eye to life has been one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my professional journey. As someone with a background in fire safety and emergency response and not app development, I had a clear vision for what the product should do, but I didn’t speak the language of code. What I did have, was real-world experience I juts needed someone who understood my vision with the correct skill set.
Turning that vision into a working, intuitive, and scalable application required the right team. That’s where ThinkEQ came in, and more specifically, where Rich Reid played a pivotal role.
Rich was the project lead, and from the outset, it was clear I was in good hands. With a wealth of experience in developing and designing digital products and bringing them successfully to market, Rich understood both sides of the coin, the client’s expectations and the end user who would be using and interacting with the product. That last point is vital. As he explained during one of our early workshops, the way people interact with apps isn’t random it’s shaped by learned behaviours. Whether it’s how users expect menus to work or how alerts should be displayed, there’s a psychology to it, and Rich understood how to get it right.
We held a series of engaging workshops, often filled with big ideas, sketches, and a good dose of honest reality checks. What impressed me most was the clarity of the process. Every element of the design right down to the colour scheme was well thought-out and tailored to fit the simplicity I knew was essential. In an emergency, no one has time to read manuals. The app had to be immediately usable, even under pressure.
Another standout aspect was how my expectations were managed throughout. From the very beginning, I was given realistic timelines and deliverables with a timeline to launch, and every single one was met. That kind of consistency and professionalism builds a lot of trust. I was never left in the dark, communication was regular, meaningful, and always left me feeling in control and informed.
The picture you see here is from one of the workshops here we were finalising the user interface. It marked a turning point in the project, when Marshal Eye began to transform from a concept into something truly functional and powerful.
Looking back, it’s easy to forget just how many hurdles come with developing an app from scratch, especially when you’re not a “techie.” But working with ThinkEQ, and with Rich in particular, turned those hurdles into stepping stones. The final product isn’t just an app; it’s a tool born out of experience, refined by expertise, and shaped with a user-first mindset.
If there’s one lesson I’d share with others starting their own development journey, it’s this: surround yourself with people who not only understand your vision but are honest enough to challenge it, refine it, and deliver it better than you imagined.
