​Topic this week: Turn your business understanding into useful software

​This Friday, John Ang, CEO of Haskytech and former head of AI engineering at Temus, a Temasek owned portfolio company, explores what the role forward deployment engineer really involves, who it’s for, and how your existing experience fits.

​Forward deployment is a business craft wearing an engineering costume. Now that AI writes the code, the person who wins is the one who understands the client — the designer, the operator, the analyst who can finally build it themselves.

​He opens the series with the whole job: the five hats, how they fit together, and what it looks like to deliver software for a real business.

​What takes a prototype into the real world?

​Getting something working is one part of the job.

​You still need to: Understand the problem, choose what belongs in the first version, decide who can access the data, make the interface understandable, keep the software running after you hand it over.

​This is where the five hats come together:

• ​Business Analyst: Find the real problem behind the brief.

• ​Project Manager: Choose the priorities and say “not now” to the rest.

• ​Architect: Decide how the system fits together, where the data lives and who can access it.

• ​Engineer: Get it running reliably in production.

• ​Designer: Make it intuitive enough for someone to use without you beside them.

​Most people already wear one or two of these hats. Forward deployment brings all five together. AI makes more of that work accessible to one person.

​What you’ll learn this Friday

• ​How the five hats work together.
  Follow how a business problem becomes software people rely on, through John’s own engagements.

• ​What separates a prototype from a product.
  The real problem, the first useful slice, the data boundary, deployment and handover — the decisions behind moving from “it works for me” to something a client pays for.

• ​How an AI-native company delivers today.
  The workflows, tools and judgement calls behind doing forward deployment work.

• ​Bring your questions.
  The talk is followed by open Q&A. Bring the prototype you’re stuck on, or the business problem you want to solve, and ask about the decisions in front of you.

​About speaker

​John is the CEO of Hasky Technologies and former head of AI engineering at Temus.

​He builds Hasky’s own products and has led teams without conventional engineering backgrounds that shipped production software to more than 20 SMEs. Real clients, real handovers, still running.

​Reserve your Friday seat using the tickets above.

​About the Forward Deployment Academy

​In August, Haskytech and SQ Collective launched a two-day boot camp as a deep dive into all five hats of forward deployment.

​In the boot camp, attendees worked alongside around 20 others, with the full attention of the mentors, to see how business analysis, project management, architecture, engineering and design come together in practice.

​One graduate has since secured a full-time FDE role, and a couple are working in partnership with John’s team.

​But forward deployment takes practice, changing tools and opportunities to learn from people doing the work.

We don’t believe you can sit in a classroom for six months and suddenly become a practitioner. It takes time to develop intuition, and then turn that intuition into practical skill.

​That is why we created the weekly Academy.

​Keep building your practice

​The weekly Academy gives you a regular room for that practice.

​Every Friday, 10:00–12:00, an experienced practitioner explores one of the five hats through an idea drawn from their work. Then the floor opens for questions.

​What August’s bootcamp participants said

​SQ Collective Academy and Hasky Technologies ran their inaugural two-day Forward Deployment Bootcamp in August, with 78 applications and 25 builders.

​FDE Academy membership — S$150/month

​Join the Haskytech Forward Deployment Academy

​Tentative upcoming sessions

​Interested in the longer, hands-on programme? Register your interest in the Forward Deployment Bootcamp.

​Who you’ll be in the room with

​Operators, consultants, product managers, analysts, designers, engineers and freelancers who want to take a business problem through to working software.

​Some have built a prototype and reached its limits. Some haven’t started. Whichever hat you already wear, this session helps you understand the rest of the job.

​FAQ

​
Bootcamp vs Masterclasses: Which format is right for you?

​Both paths require self-direction. Neither guarantees a job or client outcome. One graduate has secured a full-time FDE role, and a couple are now working in partnerships.

​Your progress depends on the experience you bring, the gaps you need to close and how consistently you apply the work.

​Start with a single Friday session if you’re still exploring.

​Use the two-hour session to understand the FDE path, meet the practitioners and bring the questions you’re working through before making a longer commitment.

​Choose the two-day intensive if you want concentrated immersion.

​Work through all five FDE hats with around 20 participants and the full attention of the mentors. It suits people who can commit both days and want to understand how the whole practice fits together.

​Choose the weekly Academy if you want to build the practice over time.

​Work through the courseware between sessions, then bring real questions to Fridays—from learning the foundations to scoping a client project, deciding what to build or working out how to price it.