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Essays, notes, and working frameworks on architecture, product judgment, people leadership, and applied AI — written to be useful, kept to be argued with.
Latest essay · Mar 15, 2026 · 3 min
What AI Tools In Education Actually Need
The most useful AI tools in education improve explanation, feedback, and access instead of turning learning into automation theater.
Developer Advocacy Should Ship Working Software
EssayDeveloper-facing teams build more credible content when their examples survive real implementation, not just polished demos.
Every Technical Role Is Now Product-Accountable
EssayAI is lowering the cost of building software. That does not remove the need for architects, managers, or technical leads. It removes the excuse for any of them to stay distant from user value.
The Cost of Unclear Ownership
NoteSmall Teams Have Never Had More Leverage
NoteThe Decision Hierarchy Problem
NoteThe Technical Leader in an AI-Accelerated Team
EssayAI tools speed up first-pass implementation, but leadership leverage is moving toward problem framing, system judgment, and team clarity.
How to Run an Architecture Review That Actually Helps
TutorialMost architecture reviews are either rubber stamps or political obstacles. This is a practical guide to running reviews that improve technical decisions without slowing teams down.
Make Decisions Legible
PrincipleProtect the Team's Attention
PrincipleThe Delivery Triangle
FrameworkA framework for understanding why engineering teams miss estimates — and why the fix is almost never "better estimation." It is almost always clarity on one of three inputs.
Earn Complexity
PrincipleArchitecture Decision Records as Team Communication
FrameworkADRs are widely prescribed and rarely used well. The reason is almost always that teams treat them as documentation artifacts instead of communication tools. Here is how to use them as the latter.
Optimize for Reversibility
PrincipleHow to Write a Technical Spec That People Actually Read
TutorialA technical spec is a decision document, not a documentation artifact. This guide covers how to structure one so it surfaces disagreement early, builds shared understanding, and creates a durable record of why the system was built the way it was.
What AI Changes About What It Means to Be a Senior Engineer
NoteBuild for the Team That Will Maintain It
PrincipleSignal vs. Noise in Engineering Metrics
FrameworkMost engineering metrics measure activity, not outcome. A framework for identifying which metrics carry real signal, which generate noise that looks like signal, and how to build a measurement system that actually improves decisions.
Estimation Is a Communication Problem, Not a Math Problem
NoteTopics
AI SystemsCloud ArchitectureDecision MakingDeveloper ExperienceEducationEngineering LeadershipOrg DesignProduct StrategyTeam ArchitectureTeam DesignTechnical Vision