Johannesburg Metropolitan Area
Hi, I’m Darren Haagman. Welcome to To Wit Development Network (TWDN) – my LinkedIn home base. After more than 25 years leading software development, architecture, and engineering teams across banking, mining, logistics, and tech, I co-founded TWDN in 2024 to give bootstrapped founders and MSM businesses in South Africa the delivery support they actually need. I’m not about bloated frameworks or one-size-fits-all processes. I believe in pragmatic project delivery, hands-on technical leadership, and human-led digital marketing solutions that fit real budgets and small teams. I’ve scaled DevOps practices that won a CEO award, led global remote teams across three continents, and delivered complex projects on time and within budget – often with limited resources. Right now I’m open to contract or permanent Project Management and Engineering Lead roles while also helping other MSM businesses grow through practical digital media marketing and structured intern programmes that give young people real paid experience and mentorship. If you’re a founder, business leader, or hiring manager looking for reliable delivery or meaningful marketing support – hit follow or send me a DM. I’m always up for a straightforward conversation.
- Oversee general, technical, finance, sales, and marketing operations while managing 3 interns and a contract developer. - Deliver turnkey and bespoke applications for clients on hourly or fixed-cost basis. - Manage technical digital media marketing automation for MSM enterprise clients. - Maintain multi-host VPS solutions for websites, email, and private-cloud services. - Provide direct management and development consulting to companies or via preferred suppliers.
- Led Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BCDR) initiative for a major FMCG manufacturer. - Collated Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) for critical ERP and Finance & Operations systems. - Recommended resilient hybrid architecture on Microsoft Azure using Azure Site Recovery (ASR). - Applied hybrid Agile + PMBOK approach with strong governance, risk management, and transparent reporting. - Successfully transitioned all deliverables and institutional knowledge to internal project lead.
- Acted as trusted senior Engineering Lead in the CBO development team serving home loans, vehicle asset finance, transactional, and credit products. - Gathered requirements, defined scope, and drafted Conceptual Solutions Architecture / Logical Solution Overview aligned with Enterprise Architecture. - Presented solutions to Solution Alignment Forum (SAF) and Application Design Forum (ADF) for approval. - Provisioned tools, infrastructure, and testing data; ensured squads had clear Definition of Ready/Done. - Managed integration points across teams, reviewed code, handled change requests, and unblocked developers to deliver on time and within budget. - Designed for automation-first where possible.
- First Software Engineering Manager (SEM) for the company; led Platform (back-end, front-end, data processing, DevOps) and supported six application teams in the mining industry. - Balanced needs of fully remote global team (LATAM, EMEA, APAC) while delivering Platform value and sharing capacity. - Defined and implemented new Agile SDLC used as pattern for other teams; successfully merged Platform and Data Science teams. - Grew 2-person DevOps team to 5 and streamlined operations so development was never blocked. - Remotely direct-line managed 15 engineers across five disciplines. *Key achievement*: Received annual CEO award for DevOps process improvement.
- Direct-line managed fully remote high-performing product development team; handled performance, HR functions, and backlog prioritisation. - Coordinated product-suite model integration, conducted hands-on story testing, and generated backlog lists. - Interacted directly with company directorship and client leaders to elicit requirements. - Successfully persuaded executive management to adopt Kanban in place of Scrum. - Designed and implemented code and release management processes. - Hosted team ideation, whiteboarding, and extreme programming (XP) sessions.