J. Serrell

I keep people on the work that matters.

At Gordon Food Service I help others succeed by clearing the busywork so they can spend their time on the value-add — and by leading the teams that make that possible. Tools are the means; their best work is the point.

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Recognized five times at Gordon Food Service.

See all
  • J&P Cup2016 · 2022
  • Person of the Year2017
  • Gold Club2017 · 2025

About

I’m Jeffrey Serrell, a low-code architect in Grandville, Michigan. The work I care about most is the kind people stop noticing: the report that assembles itself, the approval that doesn’t sit in an inbox, the form that asks only what it needs to.

I grew into that work through four chapters at Gordon Food Service — supporting the everyday tools people relied on, building software as an engineer, guiding teams as a Scrum Master, and now setting the architecture they build on. Each chapter sharpened something different: how people actually work, solution design, facilitation, and the stakeholder communication that ties them together.

I studied Information Systems at Grand Valley State University, then learned the work on an Apple Store floor and in hospital rooms at eVideon. At GFS, my work has earned five awards across three honors: the J&P Cup (twice), Person of the Year, and Gold Club (twice).

Now · September 2026
Where AI agents can take on the handoffs that still happen over email.
Location
Grandville, MI
Focus
Keeping people on high-value work
Currently
Low-Code Architect, Gordon Food Service
Education
Grand Valley State University — Information Systems

How I work

Four habits that hold across every role I’ve had.

  1. Start with the person doing the job.

    Before the platform, before the data model: what does their Tuesday actually look like, and which part of it shouldn’t exist?

  2. Automate the boring 80%.

    Then make the remaining 20% — the judgment calls — obvious, fast, and hard to get wrong.

  3. Ship small and watch it get used.

    A tool in someone’s hands on Friday teaches more than a perfect spec would in a month.

  4. The best tool is the one people stop noticing.

    If a team forgets the process used to be painful, that’s the result.

Details I sweat

  • Every field label answers “what do I type here?” without a tooltip.
  • No step exists that a system could have done instead.
  • Error messages say what to do next, never just what went wrong.
  • Defaults are right for most people, most of the time.
  • If a process needs a training session, the process isn’t finished.
  • The second version is smaller than the first.

Selected work

The kinds of problems I take on. Each one starts with a job that took longer than it should have.

Automation

Manual handoffs, made into one workflow

Replacing the exports, re-keying, and email chains between teams with a single app that moves work along and shows everyone where it stands.

  • Workflow
  • Integration
  • Low-code
AI

AI that removes steps, not adds them

Bringing AI into everyday applications where it genuinely reduces effort — drafting, sorting, summarizing — and leaving it out where it would only add novelty.

  • AI
  • Low-code
  • Adoption
Architecture

Guardrails for fast-moving teams

Patterns, standards, and review practices that keep low-code applications maintainable, so teams move quickly without building fragile things.

  • Standards
  • Solution design
  • Maintainability
Delivery

Teams that ship on a steady rhythm

Coaching Agile teams toward predictable, sustainable delivery. Five years as a Scrum Master taught me that pace comes from focus, not pressure.

  • Scrum
  • Agile
  • Team leadership

Recognition

Peer- and leadership-nominated recognition at Gordon Food Service — five awards across three honors, 2016 to 2025.

  1. 20162022

    J&P Cup×2

    Gordon Food Service’s team excellence award — won twice, six years apart, with two different teams.

  2. 2017

    Person of the Year

    Recognized company-wide for impact beyond the role — the work, and how it lifted the people around it.

  3. 20172025

    Gold Club×2

    GFS’s honor for sustained, standout contribution — earned twice, eight years apart.

Experience

From the store floor and hospital rooms to four roles at Gordon Food Service.

  1. 2024–Present

    Gordon Food Service

    Low-Code Architect

    I set the technical direction for GFS’s low-code and AI applications — deciding what good looks like, and making sure what we ship lives up to it.

  2. 2019–2024

    Gordon Food Service

    Low-Code Scrum Master

    I helped Agile teams self-organize around low-code development — facilitating Scrum, clearing obstacles, and keeping delivery steady.

  3. 2018–2019

    Gordon Food Service

    Low-Code Software Engineer

    I built software solutions from user needs up — analyzing requirements, tailoring applications for efficiency, and testing systems end to end.

  4. 2014–2018

    Gordon Food Service

    End User Experience Administrator

    I looked after the tools GFS people used every day — keeping the digital workplace reliable, and learning how work actually happens before I started building software for it.

  5. 2012–2014

    eVideon

    Systems Engineer

    I installed and supported interactive patient-experience systems in hospitals — the rooms, networks, and integrations that had to just work for patients and staff.

  6. 2012

    Apple

    Family Room Specialist

    I provided technical assistance for iOS devices and trained people on how to use their Apple technology — the first time I saw how much of a job is getting the tool out of someone’s way.

  7. 2007–2011

    Grand Valley State University

    Information Systems

    I studied Information Systems, and supported campus computers as a student technician and later a supervisor — the foundation for everything that followed.

Contact

Email is the best way to reach me. I’d be glad to hear from you.

contact-jeffrey [at] serrell.net