About Us - Trickle

The idea didn't start with a product.

It started with a whiteboard, in a small business in the early 2000s. A meeting ritual we called Broken Windows - a structured way for the team to raise issues that were getting in the way of doing good work, and a discipline of working through them visibly until they were resolved.

It worked. Things that would normally fester got named, owned, and fixed. People felt heard because they could see the result. The team got better at improving itself.

"Years later, that operational ritual became the conceptual seed for the Trickle platform."

The sprint model you see today is what that idea looks like at scale - structured, time-bound, anchored to outcomes, and built so progress stays visible to everyone.

A Broken Windows whiteboard session — staff issues raised, voted on, and ready to be worked through

An early Broken Windows session — the ritual that became the foundation for Trickle.

A focused team. Direct access. No layers.

Every customer works directly with the people who designed the platform and run the sprints. No account management layer. No handoffs between sales, success, and product.

Paul Reid

Founder & CEO

Engineering background dating to 1995, with roles spanning developer, CTO, and CEO. Two-time CivTech alumnus. Hands-on with both the technology and the commercial model behind every sprint.

Mandy Kerley

Co-founder & COO

Leads operations across Aptiq Works, from customer success delivery to commercial structure. Works directly with leadership teams to shape sprints that fit the organisation, and keeps the business running so the rest of the team can focus on customer outcomes.

Built around sprints, not licences.

Most engagement platforms ask for an annual commitment before you've seen value. We don't. A Trickle sprint runs for one to three months, anchored to a specific objective you're already working on. There's no commitment beyond the sprint itself. If it works, you run another. If it doesn't, you don't.

That commercial model is a deliberate choice. It keeps us honest about outcomes. It keeps the buyer's risk low. And it forces us to deliver something visible and useful inside a timeframe a leadership team can actually feel.

Most customers run one sprint, then another. When the rhythm becomes part of how the organisation operates, an annual sprint subscription is the natural next step. The commitment follows the value, not the other way round.

Where change is hardest.

We work primarily with organisations where uncertainty is highest, change is hardest, and getting the workforce on board is most consequential. This includes NHS trusts and local authorities.

Trickle is cited in the Scottish Government's Future Medical Workforce Project Phase 1 Report - Appendix 2.

We exist to close the gap between what staff raise
and what actually changes.

The idea didn't start with a product.

A focused team. Direct access. No layers.

Built around sprints, not licences.

Where change is hardest.

If what you've read here resonates, we should talk.

We exist to close the gap between what staff raiseand what actually changes.

The idea didn't start with a product.

A focused team. Direct access. No layers.

Built around sprints, not licences.

Where change is hardest.

If what you've read here resonates, we should talk.

We exist to close the gap between what staff raise
and what actually changes.