About Matt.

Matt Stark is an agentic and Microsoft 365 architect. He plans and builds what AI depends on: second brains, secure Microsoft 365 and Azure environments, and the migrations that get information there. He works directly with the leaders who own the result, from the Greater Toronto Area and remotely.

See the outcomes

Selected outcomes.

  • 2 weeksAn Azure subscription move, against a six-week estimate.
  • 2 weeksA national insurer's website migrated after a purpose-built transpiler converted it.
  • 6,000Users on a field training platform, with no per-user licensing.
  • 95%Completion among 2,000 non-technical field staff.
  • 125+Collaboration sites delivered in 14 months, on time and under budget.
  • 3 TBOf file shares moved into SharePoint Online.

How Matt works.

  • One senior person, start to finishNo account manager and no HR overhead, so you pay for the work. When a job needs more hands, Matt brings in contractors he trusts.
  • Taste and judgementAs AI takes on more of the implementation, the value moves to deciding what is worth building. Wide expertise means a problem gets examined from several angles.
  • Direct and informingMatt likes fast-paced, technically demanding work and says plainly what will and will not work. His role is to inform the decision, not to agree with it.

What Matt works on now.

An agentic build harness

For a startup, Matt worked with the founders on the platform architecture and a multi-agent, test-driven build harness they now use to test and release. The platform runs on Azure with MCP and role-based access.

A legacy system decoded with AI

For a national insurer, AI helped reverse-engineer a document system older than the web from its manuals and code, then build the migration tool, its automated tests and Power BI oversight.

Content moved in two weeks

The same insurer's website content was converted by a purpose-built transpiler, then migrated in two weeks with no specialist needed.

A second brain that does the briefing

Claude and Codex build this website from its maintained wiki, carrying work forward with less repeated input from Matt.

Subject matter expertise.

An AI decision reaches beyond the model: the information has to be useful, access has to match the work, and the result has to fit the systems your team relies on. Matt brings those concerns into the same conversation.

  • Agentic development & second brainsMulti-agent build loops with Claude Code, Codex and GitHub Copilot; maintained knowledge agents work from.
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot & agentsCopilot readiness, SharePoint agents and the access reviews that come first. Copilot architecture since 2023.
  • SharePoint, Teams & intranetsAward-winning intranets, enterprise search and information architecture people actually use.
  • Power Platform & automationPower Apps, hundreds of durable flows, Dataverse and Power BI, with environments and release paths.
  • Security, identity & governanceEntra ID access models, guest access, Purview labels and data loss prevention, SharePoint Advanced Management.
  • Migrations & dataFile shares, tenants, cloud drives, legacy content systems and mail, moved with mapping, cutover and reconciliation.
  • Azure & custom softwareSharePoint Framework, Azure Functions, integrations and legacy application modernization in TypeScript, React and C#.
  • Technical leadership & advisoryDiscovery, architecture, estimates, rescue work and mentoring; planning and shadowing larger delivery teams.

Industries served.

  • Law firms
  • Foundations & nonprofits
  • Healthcare philanthropy
  • Insurance
  • Energy & utilities
  • Power generation
  • Resources & drilling
  • Construction & materials
  • Facilities services
  • Restaurants & franchising
  • Financial services
  • Public sector
  • Startups

Experience by type of work.

Current AI work rests on hands-on delivery across collaboration, automation, security, migrations and software.

Agentic & AI development.

  • Multi-agent build loops with Claude Code, Codex and GitHub Copilot, with tests and human review.
  • Second brains that give agents maintained context; for a startup, one wiki read by Claude, Perplexity and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
  • AI-assisted reverse engineering and migration tooling for legacy systems.

Microsoft 365, SharePoint & intranets.

  • Award-winning intranets and enterprise search for law firms, foundations and industrial companies.
  • A law firm search centre rebuilt on PnP Modern Search, replacing an on-premises product.
  • A multilingual knowledge management system for a global construction materials company.

Power Platform & automation.

  • A field training platform: 14 Power Apps, 70+ flows, a Dataverse history cube and 30+ Power BI reports averaging 10k+ monthly views.
  • Hundreds of durable flows for registrations, inspections, audits and approvals.
  • Environment strategy and release pipelines from development to production.

Security, identity & governance.

  • An Entra ID model of role-based groups, dynamic groups and app registrations for 6,000 internal and external users.
  • Microsoft 365 security for a drilling company: Entra B2B guest access, Purview sensitivity labels and data loss prevention.
  • Ethical-wall security for a law firm, enforced from its matters system.

Migrations.

  • Sources including file shares, SharePoint Server, other tenants, Google Drive, Dropbox, Quip, Evernote, Aconex and Oracle WebCenter.
  • Three tenant-to-tenant migrations, and custom tools for sources product tooling did not cover.
  • A 3 TB file-share migration and 125+ collaboration sites in 14 months.

Custom software & Azure.

  • 10 C# web parts and 3 web-service applications converted to Azure Functions and SharePoint Framework for a law firm.
  • A self-service email archive upload through Azure Storage into Exchange Online.
  • TypeScript, React, C# and .NET on SharePoint Framework and Azure serverless.

Technical leadership & advisory.

Discovery, architecture, estimates and statements of work for business and technical teams.

Stepping into projects that need escalation or rescue, and finding the cause as well as the fix.

Mentoring developers, and hiring and leading delivery teams on larger programmes.

Recognition and credentials.

  • Nielsen Norman Group Intranet Design AnnualIntranet Usability Award, for a law firm intranet.
  • Step Two Intranet Innovation AwardsPlatinum Innovation award, for a custom search solution.
  • A client's President's AwardInnovation & Growth, for a trades mentorship platform.
  • PnP Modern SearchCommunity contributions: extensibility, samples, bug fixes and the MTW Search Extensibility add-ins.
  • Reliability StatusSecurity clearance held.
  • Microsoft PartnerMaking Things Work consults as a Microsoft Partner.

Recent roles.

  1. 2025 to now

    Agentic architect.

    A startup platform and its multi-agent build harness; AI-assisted migrations for a national insurer.

  2. 2022 to 2025

    Principal architect.

    A utility's field training platform on Microsoft 365, Power Platform and Teams, from workshops to hiring and leading the developers.

  3. Ongoing

    Founder, Making Things Work.

    Independent practice across agentic systems, Microsoft 365, security, migrations and business applications.

  4. Earlier

    SharePoint and .NET architecture.

    Engineering director and chief architect roles, and consulting for law firms, financial services, energy and the public sector.

Platforms Matt works in.

The choice starts with the work, the information and the systems your team already uses.

AI & agents.

  • Claude & Claude Code
  • Codex
  • OpenAI & ChatGPT
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Perplexity
  • Azure AI Foundry
  • AWS Bedrock
  • MCP

Microsoft 365.

  • SharePoint
  • Teams
  • OneDrive
  • Exchange Online
  • Outlook
  • Microsoft 365 Groups
  • Microsoft Search
  • SharePoint Framework
  • PnP Modern Search

Power Platform & data.

  • Power Automate
  • Power Apps
  • Power BI
  • Dataverse
  • Microsoft Forms
  • SQL Server

Identity, security & governance.

  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • Microsoft Purview
  • Microsoft 365 security
  • SharePoint Advanced Management

Cloud & development.

  • Microsoft Azure
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Azure Functions
  • Azure Container Apps
  • GitHub & GitHub Actions
  • TypeScript
  • React
  • C#
  • .NET
  • Jest
  • Playwright

Migration & content.

  • ShareGate
  • Migration Manager
  • AvePoint Fly
  • Mover
  • Adobe Experience Manager
  • Custom migration tooling

How an engagement runs.

You work directly with Matt on the decisions that shape the project. He delivers a focused scope, brings in contractors when more hands are needed, or plans and shadows delivery by a larger firm.

  • Understand the problemThe work that is difficult, the people involved and what needs to change.
  • Choose a practical scopePriorities, dependencies and decisions, agreed before a build.
  • Stay close to deliveryThe plan connected to implementation, testing and the issues that emerge.
  • Plan for ongoing useWho operates and maintains the system, with support where needed.

Ways to engage.

Packaged starts for a second brain, or planning support for a larger programme. Every project is scoped on a call.

Two-week SharePoint second brain.

A maintained knowledge base in SharePoint Online that Microsoft 365 Copilot and your people answer from.

Best fitTeams already on Microsoft 365
ScopeAgreed on a call
  • Knowledge organized and owned
  • Copilot and agents that answer from it
  • A handover or a support contract
Scope this on a call

Two-week Claude Code or Codex second brain.

A repository-based second brain your agents work from. Two weeks gets you to first base; then your team operates it, or Matt supports it.

Best fitTeams building with Claude or Codex
ScopeAgreed on a call
  • A working second brain
  • Agent instructions and skills
  • An operator or a support contract
Scope this on a call

Enterprise second brain.

A second brain on AWS Bedrock or Azure AI Foundry, with the data connections and identity mappings an enterprise needs. About six weeks.

Best fitOrganizations with many sources and roles
ScopeAgreed on a call
  • Data connections
  • Identity mappings
  • A governed rollout
Scope this on a call

Plan and shadow.

At enterprise scale, Matt plans the work and shadows delivery while a larger firm implements, so the decisions stay sound through the build.

Best fitLarge programmes with a delivery partner
ScopeAgreed on a call
  • An architecture and a plan
  • Decisions made early
  • Oversight through delivery
Scope this on a call

Work with Matt.

Bring a process that takes too much effort, a project that has stalled or an idea you want to test. Remote first from the Greater Toronto Area, and in person across Toronto, Mississauga and the Golden Horseshoe when that helps.

References and a full resume are available on request, and the legal second brain can be shown live on a call.

Start with the work.

A call is enough to find a useful next step.