Dave smiling with a shrug, palms up

Hello, I’m Dave Smith

Product leader and educator.

I turn what a business needs and what its users want into a clear product direction, then help design and engineering teams build it.

Read my latest articles
See my projects

500+

contributions merged into the WordPress open source project

×2

major WordPress releases I helped lead, 6.5 and 6.7

1,000+

active installs of my free add-ons for WordPress websites

150k

views of my educational videos on YouTube

I’ve worked with some of the biggest brands in WordPressWordPress and the WordPress logo are trademarks of the WordPress Foundation. This site isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by it.Automattic, WordPress.com, Woo and Jetpack are trademarks of Automattic Inc. This is my personal site, not an official Automattic one.

During my time at Automattic, I’ve contributed to some of the biggest players in the WordPress world, from WordPress.com, WooCommerce and Jetpack to WordPress itself.

WordPress.com
WordPress.com
Woo
Woo
Jetpack
Jetpack
WordPress
WordPress
Automattic
Automattic

Projects

A few public projects, some I’m working on now and some from before.

At Automattic

Create Not Learn Editor

An experimental WordPress editor that starts from what people want to make, not how WordPress works. It’s a standalone plugin you can try in your browser.

Personal project

Responsive Navigation Block

Show different menus, with different styles, depending on screen size. Built on the Navigation block in WordPress.

1,000+ active installs

Rated 5 out of 5

How I work

The same four steps, whether it’s a small feature or a new direction for a product.

  1. Research

    Start with the people using it. Research and testing show what’s getting in their way.

  2. Explore

    Try ideas out as quick prototypes, so everyone has something real to react to.

  3. Validate

    Test each idea with real users, so we know it’s a good fit before we build it.

  4. Ship

    Lead the team through to launch, then keep learning from the people using it.

What people say

Extremely knowledgeable, considered and forward thinking… If you have the chance to work with Dave… take it!

Robert Lowe Director, Digital & AI

We are hugely pleased with the work Dave delivered which is producing fantastic results.

Dave Holloway Marketing & Business Leader, CMO

He is a joy to work with.

Estelle Weyl Senior Technical Writer and Community Engineer

David’s technical knowledge is vast and his ability to devise solutions to address some quite challenging objectives is impressive.

Laura Parry Co-founder and COO

Working with Dave is a pleasure, because his approach to technology is about commercial focus.

Sammy Mansourpour Managing Director, AgencyUK
All recommendations on LinkedIn

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