Independent technology studio

Senior engineering, brought to small teams.

Platform strategy, web modernization, and AI workflows — architected and built hands-on, drawing on two decades of enterprise cloud leadership. If you're building something in that space, I'm always glad to talk.

Currently building
SetTable app icon
SetTable
Family meal planning · iPad & iPhone

A meal-planning app for families who actually eat together — proof that NovaForge builds products, not just advice.

React NativeAI assistantGoal-aware nutrition
Two decades leading platforms at
RTXGE HealthcareCapital OneBarrick Gold
What I do

What I build for small teams — on enterprise foundations.

A few engagements a year, done properly: modern web platforms and the AI workflows that give a small team real leverage — backed by two decades of enterprise architecture and delivery discipline.

01

AI & workflow automation

Practical AI where it earns its keep — research synthesis, summarization, and the automations that give a small team leverage.

Research & document synthesisWorkflow & process automationAI integration, scoped to fit
02

Modern web & CMS

Fast, accessible websites and content platforms — built to be maintained by your team, not held hostage by an agency.

Website design & modernizationHeadless CMS & content modelsPerformance & accessibility
The foundation
Platform & cloud

Two decades running cloud and infrastructure at enterprise scale — at RTX, GE, and Capital One. It's the foundation under everything above: the architecture instinct and operational discipline that keep what I build sound as it grows.

Proof of craft

I build products, not just slide decks.

SetTable started with a problem every family knows: the nightly “what do you want for dinner?” I wanted us planning the week together — what's for dinner, who's eating what, the whole week at a glance — instead of deciding at 5 o'clock every night.

It's also where I worked out, hands-on, how to ship a real mobile app and put AI to practical use inside it — suggest a dinner when you're stuck, turn an idea into a saved recipe, get the nutrition on a meal. Built the way I'd build for a client — and exactly the “where does AI actually earn its keep?” question I now help others answer.

In active development · TestFlight beta

Not on the App Store — a real product my own family uses every day, and the screens here are from the live build.

1
Operator, end‑to‑end
React Native
Expo · Supabase · Claude API
SetTable on iPad — the Today home hub showing tonight's dinner, family nutrition, and the week
iPad · Today hub
Ken Hartling
Founder & Principal Engineer
Why NovaForge

A career running enterprise platforms — now hands-on again.

Most recently I led the cloud and hosting function at RTX, after senior roles at GE Healthcare, Capital One, and Barrick Gold — running global organizations, large budgets, and enterprise-wide cloud adoption.

I founded NovaForge in 2025 to get back to the work directly — hands-on, for the small teams that deserve that same rigor at their scale, without the enterprise overhead.

Read the full story

Mostly, I just like talking shop.

I take on a few projects a year — but if you're building something in this space, I'm always glad to talk it through. No pitch, just a conversation.