16 July 2026

Announcing Lutellus

The first post from Lutellus: why the company exists, what it does, and what this blog will be.

This will be the first post of Lutellus, a local Canberra company supporting the journey of the public sector in the age of AI. The name Lutellus is in homage to our Founders great-great uncle Bryant Lutellus (Bob) Lindley, a WW1 pilot who flew over 30 missions in some of the earliest aircraft made, eventually being shot down at age 19. To that end, we honour the service and sacrifice of those who died for the freedoms we enjoy in the Commonwealth today. Lutellus was founded to carry that spirit of duty and service forward into the work we do within the public sector.

Why Lutellus

Why does a company like Lutellus exist? I have created this company for a few reasons:

  • Unprecedented Disruption: We are about to see transformation across all verticals beyond anything we have previously seen, Federal may be the last bastion but will not be immune to this.
  • A Need for an Even Firm Hand: There will be a lot of “flash” that every vendor can bring here, but Federal organizations will need to see beyond this, stable heads must prevail.
  • Shifting SDLC Economies: The economics of software development have fundamentally changed. Federal departments now have the opportunity to get closer than ever to achieving Sir Peter Gershon’s original efficiency recommendations, but there are many modern pitfalls along the way.
  • Proven Delivery: For those who knew me before I went to the Darkside (aka Vendor Land), I was known as very capable tech lead who could deliver, even in adverse conditions. These skills and “lessons learned” will be invaluable to the leaders within Government.

What does Lutellus do?

Well, this is a new company and I have some ideas, expect a lot of pivot/pivot/pivot. As Thomas the Tank engine once said, “He wanted to be a useful engine”. Here’s what I’m working on right now:

  • Vendor neutral advice: Evaluating technologies, consultancies or approaches to bring responsible AI into the Federal domain.
  • Technical Sprints and Prototyping: Say you’re looking at Mongo or Elastic and want to quickly evaluate them for your use case, we’re here to help.
  • Solution Architecture engagements: Utilise our experience working with multiple vendors and approaches to pick vendor technology which truly meets your needs.
  • SaaS Based Niche Products: There were a few times whilst working both within the client space or within vendor land that I would wish a product existed – and ideally for it to be vendor neutral. Now being free from an entity claiming any invention I build, I can do just that.

The Role of this Blog

This blog will form as an adjunct to the consulting provided by Lutellus, though also in the spirit of codinghorror.com, I will ensure to sprinkle in a few more interesting tales of misadventure from my time in Federal IT.

Thank you for your time, looking forward to contributing to Australian public sector technical success.