writing · 85 essays

The archive

Essays on engineering leadership, the agentic SDLC, platform engineering, and enterprise AI — what actually constrains software delivery.

Series 5

// featured · September 7, 2026

The Developer Experience Ledger

An AI tool can save a developer an hour while the delivery journey consumes most of the saving. The developer experience ledger follows the work across that boundary, so platform teams can tell what they removed and what they merely moved.

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agentic-sdlc

$ vinny init agentic-sdlc
→ spinning up reasoning loop
✓ spec generated · 217 lines
✓ tests scaffolded · 14 cases
⚠ coverage gap detected · branch /auth
→ prompting refinement
✓ branch coverage · 96%
// shipping behavior, not just code

September 5, 202618 min audio
From Faster Code to Better Engineering★
Sixteen months of building and writing taught me that AI makes implementation cheaper while raising the value of clear intent, trustworthy platforms, operational understanding, and human judgment.
Engineering LeadershipAgentic SDLCPlatform Engineering
September 1, 202613 min audio
The Best AI Developer Experience Might Be Invisible★
The obvious version of AI developer experience is a chatbot in the portal. The better version diagnoses the failure, repairs what the platform owns, and reruns to green before the developer opens the log.
Platform EngineeringGenAIEngineering Leadership
August 28, 202615 min audio
Everyone Is Commoditizing Someone: Battle of the LLMs★
Open weights and closed models are moves in a fight over where margin survives. For enterprise teams, the durable assets are the evaluations, context, tool contracts, and audit evidence that keep model providers replaceable.
AI EconomicsAI StrategyEngineering Leadership
August 24, 202612 min audio
Nobody Pages the Agent★
A gate proves a standard ran. It does not prove anyone can operate the result at 3 a.m. Operability has to become part of the spec, and the evidence has to survive the merge.
Agentic SDLCEngineering LeadershipPlatform Engineering
August 23, 202611 min audio
My Mac Ran Out of Headroom, So I Built Some★
A runaway collection of agents, local models, and browser processes pushed my Mac past the point where Activity Monitor was useful. So I built System Headroom, and Apple's sandbox ended up shaping the product more than I expected.
Side ProjectsGenAIEngineering Leadership
August 20, 20267 min audio
The Golden Path Needs an Intent Interface★
The golden path made the right way easier to follow. It still asks developers to learn the road. With AI, intent can become the interface while the platform keeps the standards, the controls, and the gate.
Platform EngineeringAgentic SDLCSpec-Driven Development
August 15, 20269 min audio
Context Is a Platform Capability Now★
We treat enterprise context as something developers gather before they can use AI well. Platform teams should treat trusted context as something the platform provides.
Platform EngineeringAgentic SDLCAI Strategy
August 13, 202611 min audio
Your Platform Has a New User: The Agent★
We built internal platforms for developers. Those developers now arrive with an AI agent beside them, and how well your platform serves that second user is becoming the real maturity test.
Platform EngineeringAgentic SDLCAI Strategy
August 11, 20264 min audio
The Accidental Podcast★
I automated audio versions of my essays, looked away for four months, and found a 22-episode back catalog. Meet Never the Stack, the podcast I never meant to start.
GenAIProductivitySide Projects
August 9, 202613 min audio
Where the Saved Hour Goes★
AI can create a real time dividend for engineers, and history says unallocated capacity gets absorbed before anyone notices. The case for deciding where the saved hour goes.
AI EconomicsEngineering LeadershipAgentic SDLC

featured

The Developer Experience Ledger

From Faster Code to Better Engineering★

The Best AI Developer Experience Might Be Invisible★

Everyone Is Commoditizing Someone: Battle of the LLMs★

Nobody Pages the Agent★

My Mac Ran Out of Headroom, So I Built Some★

The Golden Path Needs an Intent Interface★

Context Is a Platform Capability Now★

Your Platform Has a New User: The Agent★

The Accidental Podcast★

Where the Saved Hour Goes★