Ash Shaw
South Africa.
Ash Shaw is the Founder and CEO of LightSpeed, a WordPress design and development agency established in 2003. With over 20 years of experience in WordPress, WooCommerce, and open-source development, Ash has been a consistent contributor to the WordPress ecosystem since 2007, actively organizing WordPress meetups and WordCamps since 2010. At LightSpeed, Ash prioritizes continuous learning, both personally and within the team. A dedicated weekly study allowance ensures that team members can develop new skills and stay ahead of industry trends. Planning and detailed project specifications are at the core of LightSpeed’s workflow, ensuring that designers, developers, and clients are always aligned throughout the development process. Never one to resist change, Ash has led LightSpeed through major workflow evolutions:
- Transitioned from Photoshop to Sketch in 2015 after a recommendation from Noel Tock.
- Moved LightSpeed to a fully remote company in 2014 after reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss and The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch.
- Instituted asynchronous communication in 2024, eliminating daily stand-up meetings in favor of Slack updates, inspired by 37signals’ podcast on meeting toxicity.
- Adopted a hybrid approach to Agile development, taking the best parts of Scrum, Kanban, and Lean methodologies to optimize productivity while ensuring work-life balance.
Ash believes in trusting his team, avoiding micromanagement, and fostering autonomy—allowing each member to own their schedules and maintain a healthy work-life balance. His leadership style promotes discipline, personal growth, and well-being, blending structured workflows with personal freedom. Outside of work, Ash maintains peak performance through daily exercise, healthy eating, and structured rest. With a high metabolism, he carefully manages energy levels with consistent, nutritious meals. A firm believer in daily naps, Ash optimizes his cognitive performance with a 20-30 minute recharge post-lunch, allowing for a second wave of deep work in the afternoons.
At WordCamp Europe, Ash brings a future-focused approach to WordPress workflows, demonstrating how design systems, automation, and scalable planning can transform how agencies and developers build for WordPress. Recently, Ash has focused on bridging the gap between design and development by leveraging Figma’s evolving feature set—including Variables, Components, and Modes—to build open-source design systems that align seamlessly with WordPress block themes and theme.json workflows.
Ash and the LightSpeed team have developed scalable design frameworks for clients such as Novus Media, implementing Figma-based workflows that simplify theme building, developer handoffs, and accessibility standards. Passionate about WordPress, design systems, and workflow optimization, Ash is excited to share insights at WordCamp Europe 2025.