Steady course through complex systems
Independent technology consulting: assessments, operations, observability, and AI implementation — grounded in a known position, not guesswork.
Services
Four practice areas, each aimed at replacing guesswork with a clear read on where you actually stand.
Tech Assessments
Objective evaluation of your architecture, tooling, and technical debt — with clear, prioritized recommendations.
Operational Excellence
Process and infrastructure improvements that reduce toil, harden reliability, and help teams ship with confidence.
Observability
Monitoring, logging, and alerting designed so you can see what's actually happening in production — not guess at it.
AI Implementation & Expertise
Practical integration of AI and LLM capabilities into existing products and workflows, from prototype to production.
The Approach
Dead reckoning navigation works from a known position, careful measurement, and a steady heading — not guesswork. We apply the same discipline to engineering work.
Fix Position
Establish where things actually stand — architecture, operations, and data, as they are today.
Plot Course
Turn findings into a prioritized, concrete plan built around your constraints.
Hold Heading
Execute alongside your team, keeping changes shippable and reversible.
Check Bearings
Measure results against the plan and correct course as new information comes in.
Dead Reckoning Tech
Dead Reckoning Tech is an independent technology consultancy. We work the way the namesake navigation method does: start from a known position, take careful measurements, and hold a steady course — rather than guessing at where you are. That discipline shows up in every engagement, from a single assessment to hands-on implementation work.
Side projects
Thought experiments and tools I've built for fun — usually because a question wouldn't leave me alone.
Trip Map
Turns your geotagged photos into a fly-over video with a slideshow at each stop.
tripmap.store →Calico Jack Coming soon
A self-serving store for me to get the pirate-themed apparel I want.
calicojack.store →Ice Depth Calculator
Iceboating and ice fishing created a need for estimating ice thickness, so I wrote a tool.
icecalc.streamlit.app →Lake Evaporation Estimator
Pulls weather station data and runs a Penman open-water model to estimate how much water my lake loses to evaporation.
lake-evaporation.streamlit.app →Let's fix your position
Tell us what you're navigating — an assessment, an ops problem, an AI rollout — and we'll take it from there.
dave@deadreckoningtech.llc