The former Volts all-rounder was appointed Black Caps selection manager last month.
He replaced Gavin Larsen, who had served in the hot seat with distinction since 2015.
It is not an easy role. There are about five million armchair selectors at home convinced you have got it wrong and they have got it right.
Until recently, Wells was just part of that madding crowd. The civil litigation lawyer had his own views on the makeup of the team.
But now that he has the ear of Black Caps coach Gary Stead, who remains the chief selector, Wells actually has some influence and power.
He prefers to call it "soft power". That description sounded like it belonged in a Game of Thrones episode.
But essentially the gig involves hoovering up all the information Stead needs to make his selection decisions. And they are Stead’s decisions to make. But if there is any disagreement, that is when Wells will really earn his pay cheque.
He loves a good debate. And, judging by the sparkle in his eye, he is looking forward to playing "devil’s advocate" and mounting the odd challenge to make sure the selection process is as robust as it needs to be.
"My wife might say this combines my two favourite hobbies — cricket and arguing," Wells said, chuckling.
"Obviously, you’ve got soft power as the selection manager. I don’t have any authority to override Gary. It is ultimately his decision, but I guess that is where the art of persuasion comes in.
"It is also about gaining his trust and confidence in that I know what I’m talking about. That will take a bit of time.
"But if I come to the table well-prepared, with well thought-out arguments and reasoning, then hopefully he will lean on me and trust my opinion.
"An element of it is I have to play devil’s advocate as well, and test everybody’s thinking. That is certainly the strong message I’m getting from Gary and from New Zealand Cricket. They see that as a fundamental requirement of the role.
"There is no point in us going in there and agreeing on everything and patting each other on the back and telling each other how good we are."
Wells is a newbie to selection in some sense. He enjoyed a very solid playing career for Otago but had only a year as the convener of selectors for the Volts before being appointed to the Black Caps role.
He does not have the experience Larsen was able to draw on, or the profile.
But he is a self-described cricket tragic and a strategic thinker. Now, instead of boring everyone around the water cooler with his ideas on who should bat where and whether so-and-so was unlucky to miss the cut, he will plug away at Stead.
"They are the type of discussions you often have with your mates anyway," he said when asked what spurred him to apply.
"I’ve always been passionate about Otago cricket and the Black Caps, so getting an opportunity to get involved as a selector was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I threw my name in the hat and here I am.
"I think the two fields I’ve worked in — professional sport and the law — are competitive and combative systems basically. So there is a competitive element there but also a strategic one as well.
"I think the legal skills I’ve learnt and developed will hold me in good stead. I certainly don’t think I would have had the skill set to do the job coming fresh out of cricket."
Now for the question on the lips of every Black Caps fans: who will open the batting alongside Devon Conway when Kane Williamson returns from the thumb injury which ruled him out of some World Cup pool matches — Rachin Ravindra or Will Young?
"We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we."
Pfffft.
