JAMES G.
SYSTEMS ARCHITECT·PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCHER·BUILDER
AI-native systems creative who designs and ships interactive learning products that make complex systems feel human and teachable.
I'm not a 10x engineer. I'm not a rockstar developer. I'm someone who cares deeply about making technology accessible, who documents transparently, and who builds things that genuinely help people learn.
If you've read this far into jmfg.ca, you already know:
I think in systems
I write to make people understand (not to impress)
I design labs that change how people see their machines
I believe competence is attractive
WHAT I DO FOR TEAMS
I help your customers understand and adopt your AI product through interactive training, clear documentation, and scalable onboarding systems.
Document for scale
I document like your future staff engineer will thank me for. Self-serve systems that reduce support burden and enable teams to onboard themselves.
Translate between stakeholders
I bridge exec, product, and engineering without drama. Turn technical features into clear customer value and adoption strategies.
Design maintainable systems
I build educational systems that are teachable and maintainable, not just clever. Your team can extend what I create.
Ship with clarity
I move fast without sacrificing correctness or experience. Clear specs, rapid iteration, quality outcomes.
PROOF I CAN SHIP
Real projects·Measurable outcomes·Shipped products
Systems ThinkingMeetsCreative Execution
From programmatic advertising to interactive forensics labs—every project is a system, every system tells a story.
80+ Interactive Forensics Labs
Customer Education • Security Concepts
Designed interactive labs that teach cybersecurity concepts to non-technical audiences. I translate complex security ideas into learning experiences that stick—built for customer enablement, not practitioners.
Digital Self-Awareness Series
Psychology + Technology
Writing about technology, psychology, and decision-making in plain language. Helps teams understand how people actually adopt new tools. No fear-mongering, just clarity.
Ice Files Thriller Series
Cybersecurity through narrative
Stories that map narrative beats to real attack techniques and defense strategies. Makes cybersecurity concepts memorable through storytelling, not just technical documentation.
Production React/TypeScript Apps
Interactive learning platforms
Built and shipped customer-facing applications focused on education and adoption. Documented everything so teams can extend and maintain the systems I create.
HOW I THINK
Not just a skill list—a map of how I connect technical depth, design thinking, and human psychology.
Backend
I teach the basics of how systems talk to each other so non-programmers can understand the building blocks.
Frontend
Animation. Typography. Space. Obsession with details.
Cybersecurity
I'm a passionate observer who translates complex security concepts for customers. I know enough to sound credible—but I educate and enable, I don't do the hands-on work.
Design/UX
Form follows function (and taste).
Psychology
How humans actually use technology.
THE HONEST TRUTH
I'm an AI-native builder: I design systems, write specs, and orchestrate tools like Cursor and Claude to ship faster without sacrificing quality.
If you want someone who lives in raw syntax all day, that's not me. If you want someone who connects business needs, psychology, and engineering into one coherent system, that is me.
My strength: understanding what needs to be built and communicating it so well that implementation becomes straightforward. This is the engine behind great customer success and education.
Background: 4 years managing enterprise campaigns at Publicis. Small business family—learned how systems need to work for real people. Creative writer who makes complex things clear.
My methodology: I combine systems thinking with modern AI tools to design scalable onboarding, write documentation that enables self-service, and ship products that drive adoption.
MY PRINCIPLES
How I approach work and life. The why behind the what.
EMPOWERMENT > FEAR
I don't use FUD. I use facts + clarity. You don't need tricks; you need understanding.
Impact: Good security and learning design leaves people feeling more capable, not more paranoid. This reduces churn and builds trust.
COMPETENCE IS ATTRACTIVE
Whether it's code, design, writing, or security, doing one thing exceptionally well > doing 10 things okay.
Impact: Deep expertise in customer education drives better adoption outcomes than surface-level knowledge across many areas.
COMMUNICATION SOLVES MOST PROBLEMS
Most bugs are miscommunication between humans. Most disagreements are missing context. Write like someone's reading it at 2am, tired.
Impact: Clear documentation and training reduce support tickets and enable teams to self-serve, scaling your impact.
SYSTEMS THINKING IS EVERYTHING
A button isn't about the button. A security issue isn't about one vulnerability. Everything connects. See the graph, not the nodes.
Impact: Understanding how onboarding, product, and support connect lets you design customer journeys that actually work.
TASTE IS A SKILL, NOT A GIFT
It's cultivated. Through obsession. Through critique. Through caring about small details nobody sees.
Impact: Attention to detail in education materials makes the difference between content people skim and content that changes behavior.
CONTEXT > CONTENT
The best solution isn't the most technically elegant one. It's the one that fits the user's actual workflow, constraints, and mental model.
Impact: When you design with real user context in mind, adoption happens naturally. Features don't need to be sold—they become obvious.
WHAT EXCITES ME
The moments and ideas that make me lean forward. What I value beyond metrics and status.
- •That moment when someone finally gets it—when confusion turns into clarity. This is what great customer education feels like.
- •The intersection of psychology + technology—understanding how people actually use what we build, not how we think they should. This is how you drive real adoption.
- •When someone explains a complex topic so well that it feels obvious in hindsight. This is the goal of every onboarding system I design.
- •Design systems and interactive labs that turn complex AI/security tools into something non-technical teams can actually use and love.
HOW I SEE THINGS
Opinions shaped by experience. Open to being wrong.
"Most learning platforms optimize for engagement metrics, not actual understanding. I build interactive labs that prioritize the moment when complex systems suddenly feel simple and inevitable."
"I'm an AI-native builder with a systems and marketing background. I understand how frameworks connect, can speak technical language fluently, and translate between engineering, product, and customer needs without drama."
"Psychology beats pure marketing every time. When you understand your user's actual context—their fears, their workflow, their mental models—you don't need growth hacks. You just need clarity and empathy."
THE JOURNEY
Narrative arc. Shows intentionality.
Programmatic Ad Trader at Publicis on the FCA Fiat Chrysler account. Managed campaigns across Google DV360, Amazon AWS, The Trade Desk.
Learned to think in systems: data, bids, and behavior wired together to move real business metrics. This is where the habit formed—translating opaque platform logic into clear narratives for non-technical stakeholders.
Deep dive into cybersecurity through hands-on learning: Linux, HackTheBox, TryHackMe. Completed most paths, earning top 5% distinction.
Hands-on labs rewired how learning feels—complex systems become tangible in a way theory never achieves. This is why everything I build now is interactive, not slideware.
Early Midjourney beta tester. Experimented with AI-generated art as NFTs on Ethereum and Polkadot.
Used generative models as a sandbox to learn prompting, model limits, and how non-technical users actually experience AI tools. Conclusion: AI is only useful when you can explain it in plain language.
Focused study of behavioral psychology and decision-making. Started writing about psychology + technology.
Psychology is the missing layer in most technical work. Same feature, two outcomes: ignored vs. ritual. The difference is psychology plus teaching.
Documented industry shifts and tool stacks in long-form breakdowns. Trained pattern recognition across markets, tech, and behavior.
This is the engine behind proactive playbooks, not just reactive support. Connecting dots across disparate domains reveals patterns others miss.
Built cyber forensics labs, Ice Files thriller series mapping story beats to real attack techniques, and FrameArchitech.
Now the focus is building AI-powered labs and onboarding systems that help customers adopt complex cybersecurity and SaaS products faster with less hand-holding.
LET'S CONNECT
FOR HIRING MANAGERS
AI Customer Success / Education / Solutions roles
- Designs AI onboarding systems that reduce time-to-value
- Builds interactive labs and documentation for self-service adoption
- Translates between engineering, product, and customer needs
- Makes complex AI/security tools feel simple and teachable
- Documents like your future team will thank you for
FOR EMPLOYERS
- Shipped products that users love
- Bridges gap between design & engineering
- Documented everything (your future self will thank me)
- Obsessed with performance & UX
- Can explain technical concepts to anyone
Fair warning: I will turn your coffee chats into whiteboard sessions.
Let's connectFOR COLLABORATORS
If you're working on:
- •Educational tools that respect intelligence
- •Design systems that scale
- •Security training that sticks
- •Writing that moves people
If you need someone who can help customers understand and adopt complex AI/security products, we should talk.