Workflow discovery
Map the task, users, decisions, workarounds, and smallest useful outcome before choosing technology.
AI-enabled product studio
Turn the work you repeat into software built around you.
JW Soft is an independent product studio in Hamilton, Ontario, building custom web and mobile software and applied AI features for organizations whose workflows have outgrown generic tools.
JW Soft uses AI to rapidly design and build focused web and mobile products—and puts AI inside the solution when it can make the work meaningfully easier.
Led by Peter Basl — professor, engineer, tournament director, and hands-on product developer.
Workflow first
Start with the real task, not a technology checklist.
Smallest useful product
Prototype the core value before expanding the build.
AI, twice applied
AI accelerates the build and becomes part of the product when it earns its place.
A familiar starting point
You do not need a technical specification.
You need a clear description of the task that keeps getting in the way. We can work from there.
1
A recurring task depends on spreadsheets, forms, email, or group chats.
2
Available software is too complicated—or does not match your real process.
3
You know what a useful solution should do, but need help shaping the product.
4
You want to test a focused idea before committing to a large build.
Selected work
Products born from real problems.
Each project began with a workflow that deserved something more focused than a generic platform.
Sports operations
Ladders
A group-management and competition platform for active pickleball communities, with live sessions, rankings, social features, and AI-generated insights.
Explore the case study
Education technology
GradeSteward
A human-led AI workspace for rubric-based assessment that prepares evidence, provisional marks, and feedback while keeping every academic decision with the instructor.
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Business workflows
Sport Margin
A financial operating system for tournament directors and sports-event businesses, covering event economics, receipts, mileage, invoices, and accounting-ready reports.
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Consumer wellbeing
Pause
A private pre-send space for emotionally charged messages, designed to create a short moment between feeling and action.
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Health and fitness
Atlas
A private, explainable health and fitness tracker that helps users see progress and training patterns more clearly.
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Services in operation
Tournament technology
Registration, event management, communication, reporting, and custom technology shaped through hands-on tournament direction.
Explore the case studyHow I can help
Start with the problem. Build only what earns its place.
Engagements can begin with a focused workflow conversation, a rapid AI-assisted prototype, or a complete product with useful AI built in.
Rapid AI-assisted prototyping
Use AI throughout design and development to turn the core workflow into something tangible and testable—fast.
Custom web and mobile products
Build around how the work actually happens instead of forcing it into a generic platform.
Applied AI and automation
Add AI inside the product where it can reduce repetitive work, surface useful insight, or create a better starting point.
A clear working process
From recurring frustration to a product people can use.
01
Understand
Start with the recurring task, current workaround, users, and desired change.
02
Define
Agree on the smallest useful solution, boundaries, risks, and success criteria.
03
Prototype
Use AI-assisted development to make the workflow visible early and learn before the expensive decisions.
04
Build
Develop rapidly in focused increments, adding AI to the product wherever it creates meaningful value.
05
Launch and improve
Put the product into real use, observe what happens, and refine it deliberately.
Founder profile
Peter Basl
Professor · Engineer · Product builder · Tournament director
PhD, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Engineering Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Owner and operator of every JW Soft product
Why JW Soft
Built by someone who lives inside the workflows.
I build products because I encounter problems worth solving—in teaching, tournament operations, personal wellbeing, and the day-to-day work of running focused services.
AI is central to that work in two ways: I use it as a hands-on development multiplier to move from problem to working product quickly, and I integrate it into the product when it can remove friction or improve decisions.
Discovery still does not stop at a feature list. I care about the edge cases, decisions, and human context that determine whether software becomes useful or becomes another burden.
Hands-on product ownership
Technical depth without unnecessary complexity
Real-world testing and iteration
Human-centred use of AI
Recent writing
Practical notes from building and operating products.
How to tell whether your workflow actually needs custom software
Five practical tests for deciding whether to build, configure an existing tool, or change the process instead.
Read the insightSix signs your operation has outgrown its spreadsheet
Six concrete signals that a spreadsheet has become infrastructure without the safeguards of a real system.
Read the insightWhere AI belongs in a product, and where it doesn't
A practical framework based on the cost of being wrong and who remains accountable for the result.
Read the insightStart with the workflow
What task would you like to make easier?
Describe the work in your own words. You do not need requirements, wireframes, or technical terminology.
A focused first conversation
Honest scope and feasibility feedback
A practical smallest-next-step recommendation