00 / Identity

FlorxLabs

Hi there, I’m Jake Hall. This is my little presence on the internet.

florxlabs.comlondon, uk22 posts since 2016

01 / About

I’m an engineering leader in London, obsessed with automation, security and a test-first approach. I started out as a software engineer and never quite stopped. Most of my work now is clearing the runway, getting tooling, feedback loops and communication out of the way so teams can move fast without breaking the things that matter. I’ve written a fair bit about that.

I care more about products than projects. Delivering on time and on budget matters, but only if the person on the other end ends up with something genuinely good, which means working closely with senior stakeholders on strategy, and breaking down the silos that get in the way.

And I try to build environments where it’s safe to get things wrong. That’s where most of the useful learning actually happens.

I’ve been writing here since 2016. Back then it was PHP on a server I was patching myself - now it’s mostly platforms, security, and what changes when an agent does the typing.

02 / Writing

Zero to development of an idea, ten years onIn 2016 the bootstrap was a FlorxLabs server and a wildcard DNS trick. In 2026 it’s my phone, and the laptop mostly stays shut.Auditing every domain I ownThirteen live domains, five of them silently broken, spread over four DNS providers - a day of housekeeping with Claude, and a tool to do the same for yours.An obsessive commitment to automationThree manual pain points on a project, automated away. Plus why the laziest engineers often make the best ones.You’re using the word DevOps badlyIt’s a cultural approach to engineering, not a job title, a team, or something you can hire.everything else on the blog →
4 selected22 in total

03 / Labs

DelayometerMeasures how late the tube, Elizabeth line and DLR actually are, every thirty seconds, and shows you where that disagrees with the status TfL is declaring. Built on TfL’s open data.delayometer.londonDomain reviewPaste in your domains and find out what’s broken, what’s about to expire, and which ones a stranger could still send mail as.domain-review.florxlabs.comRoad to LondonEvery workout on the way to the 2027 London Marathon, logged and analysed. Claude updates it after each session. It’s the infrastructure that keeps me motivated and honest against a plan.marathon.florxlabs.comthe open source and the ones that died →
3 live9 in total

04 / Elsewhere

LinkedIn is the best way to reach me. I read it, eventually.