About

 

About Paul Usher

Solutions & Business Strategist. Software developer. Still asking, “Why are we doing it that way?”

I help businesses get time back.

Sometimes that means building a mobile app. Sometimes it means connecting systems that have never spoken to each other. And sometimes it means discovering that the process everyone wants automated should have been retired years ago.

I’m Paul Usher, a Queensland-based software developer, Solutions & Business Strategist and DevExpress Technical Evangelist. I work with businesses to remove duplicated effort, simplify complicated workflows and turn good ideas into software people can actually use.

The technology matters. What it changes for the people using it matters more.

Start with the problem, not the platform

My work sits where business operations and software meet. I’m interested in the workarounds people have stopped questioning: the information entered twice, the report nobody reads, the paper form that becomes a spreadsheet before somebody types it into another system.

That is usually where the useful conversation starts.

I work across custom business applications, mobile development, system integration and the modernisation of existing software. Small and medium-sized businesses are a particular focus, because wasted time and unnecessary complexity have a very real cost when the team is small.

My day-to-day tools include C#, .NET, Blazor, .NET MAUI and Azure, with plenty of Delphi and legacy-system experience in the mix. But I don’t believe every business problem needs a new application, and I’m not interested in replacing a working system simply because something newer has arrived.

The aim is a better way of working, not a longer list of subscriptions.

From a Sinclair Spectrum to software people rely on

My interest in programming began with a Sinclair Spectrum and a desire to understand how things worked, then change them. That curiosity followed me through Amiga and Psion development into Windows, the web, mobile applications and cloud services.

More than three decades of commercial software development have given me the opportunity to build applications for organisations in retail, construction, medical services and other industries. They have also taught me that writing the code is only part of the job. Understanding the business, listening to its people and supporting the solution after launch are just as important.

I still build software hands-on. The strategy conversations are informed by the same delivery problems, maintenance decisions and unexpected surprises that other developers face.

DevExpress, speaking and sharing what I learn

I was a DevExpress customer long before I became an evangelist, first using its tools in 2003. That customer perspective remains an important part of how I explain and demonstrate technology.

Through my work with DevExpress, I’ve presented webinars, demonstrated products, written technical articles and spoken to developer communities internationally. My published sessions cover everything from WinForms, reporting and dashboards to mobile development, Blazor and automated testing.

I’m also a Microsoft MVP alumnus and a published author, and I’ve taught through WintellectNOW. Microsoft’s 2015 MVP Summit interview captures an earlier chapter of that journey.

I enjoy helping another developer get past the problem that has eaten their afternoon. A useful explanation can save someone far more time than it took to write or record it.

What I’m building now

Alongside client work, I’m putting more of my own thinking into products.

ModelBusiness helps people explore how a business could work before committing to the assumptions behind it. It brings together revenue, costs and scenarios so business owners and advisors can have a more useful conversation about viability and the decisions ahead.

PYFFO is about finding and removing friction: the repeated tasks, awkward processes and unnecessary effort that quietly consume time. It turns those observations into decisions about what to eliminate, simplify, automate, delegate or deliberately leave alone.

Both grow out of the same question that runs through my client work: what would make this easier, clearer and more useful?

I’m also exploring practical uses of AI in software development and business systems. I’m interested in what it helps us achieve, where it needs supervision and how to use it without outsourcing our judgement along with the typing.

Away from the keyboard

I’m a husband, dad and grandfather. Family matters more than any job title.

Music has been part of my life since childhood. I play brass instruments and serve as President of Beenleigh Brass Band. Making something work together is just as satisfying in a band room as it is in software, although the debugging is considerably louder.

There is also LEGO. Quite a lot of LEGO. Apparently building things is not an interest I switch off at the end of the working day.

What you’ll find on this blog

This is where I share what I’m building, what I’m learning and what I think deserves a closer look.

You’ll find practical development articles, business lessons, product stories, thoughts on AI and technology, and the occasional complaint about something that should have been simpler. There is room for life outside work, too.

I don’t have every answer. I do have plenty of experience, a willingness to keep learning and a fairly persistent habit of asking better questions.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, explore my DevExpress articles, or browse the recordings below.

The views expressed on this blog are my own.

DevExpress videos and webinars

A collection of my publicly credited DevExpress presentations and co-presentations, with direct YouTube links and supporting sources.

Archive researched: 20 September 2026. This edition contains 31 distinct recordings. It is not a complete production catalogue: public pages do not consistently credit narration, editing or behind-the-scenes production, and some recordings could not be located. Joint presentations are credited accordingly rather than presented as solo work.

Dates below are the webinar dates in DevExpress’s archive, except the entry marked [1], which uses the YouTube publication date. Older recordings reflect the products and versions available at the time, not necessarily current development guidance. The recording source linked beneath each title provides an alternative route when an old YouTube link is unavailable.

2020

10 Ways to Simplify UI Testing
29 Jul 2020 | Recording source

Building Your First Blazor App / Blazor Webinar with Carl Franklin
3 Mar 2020 | With Julian Bucknall; guest Carl Franklin | Recording source

2019

What’s New in v19.2: Dashboards and Reporting + Office File API
1 Nov 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

What’s New in v19.2: WPF Controls
30 Oct 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

What’s New in v19.2: WinForms Controls
28 Oct 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Charts Explained
13 Aug 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Using a JavaScript Library with Blazor
16 Jul 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

What’s New in v19.1: Dashboards, Reporting & Data Analytics
16 May 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

What’s New in v19.1: WPF Controls
15 May 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

What’s New in v19.1: WinForms Controls
13 May 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Introducing TestCafe Studio
30 Apr 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

ASP.NET Security Best Practices
19 Feb 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

What’s New in Native Charts
29 Jan 2019 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

2018

New in v18.2: Dashboards, Reporting & Data Analytics
16 Nov 2018 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

New in v18.2: WPF Controls
15 Nov 2018 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

New in v18.2: WinForms Controls
13 Nov 2018 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

New in v18.1: Dashboards, Reporting, Analytics
17 May 2018 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

New in v18.1: WinForms and WPF Controls
15 May 2018 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Getting Started with DevExtreme, Angular & Ionic
1 May 2018 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Getting Started with Dashboards
24 Apr 2018 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

2017

New in v17.2: Dashboards, Reporting & Data Analytics
1 Dec 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

New in v17.2: WinForms & WPF Controls
29 Nov 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

An Introduction to Logify
28 Sep 2017 | Recording source

Charting: The Return of the Native
26 Sep 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

New in v17.1: Dashboards, Reporting & Analytics
19 May 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

New in v17.1: WinForms & WPF Controls
16 May 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Demystifying DevExpress Charts
18 Apr 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Get Started with the DevExpress Report Server
8 Mar 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Diagram Control: Advanced Tips & Tricks
31 Jan 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

Diagram Control: Getting Started
24 Jan 2017 | With Julian Bucknall | Recording source

2013

What’s New in 13.2 for Windows Developers
2 Dec 2013 [1] | Recording source

[1] YouTube publication date, rather than an independently confirmed webinar date.

The v19.2 Dashboards/Reporting and Office File API announcements link to one combined recording, so that video appears only once.

Sources and further reading

Background and professional work

Products and personal writing

Video attribution and the wider archive

 

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