Behind the site

Why this site exists

AI score 2.3/4 me. Idea 1.5/2 · Words 0.8/2. AI pulled this together from things I said while building the site; I'm rewriting it in my own words

Mission

Think out loud about technology, honestly and in plain language, so people inside and outside the industry can follow along, push back, and maybe get somewhere better together.

Why now

Honestly, the biggest reason is AI. It's changing how software gets built, who builds it, how teams work together, and how fast all of it moves. Most of what gets written about it is either selling something or scared of it. I want to think it through out loud, in plain language, from the inside.

It's also what finally got me writing. I'd been meaning to for years, and I can overthink anything into never shipping it. Arguing with AI until I say what I mean turned out to be the nudge. And I'd rather my views be written down and dated, so they can be checked against what actually happens.

What I'm hoping for

In order, and honestly.

Principles

• Be human. Not polished, not a press release. Humble about myself, firm about the argument.
• Plain language. If someone outside tech can't follow it, it isn't done.
• No products, no employer. My views are mine. I don't promote anything, including my employer's products.
• No astroturfing. Just me, under my own name. No fake accounts, no bought engagement, no bait.
• Honest about AI. I use it, I argue with it, and every piece says how much of it is me.
• Ship raw, patch in the open. Better out and improving than perfect and unpublished.
• Be patient. Build, ship, watch, adapt. A quiet first day isn't a verdict, and a loud one wouldn't be either. I spent years overthinking toward a grand opening that would prove it was worth it. That isn't how this works. The real signal shows up slowly, from the people who come back.
• Clay first, chisel later. A sculptor doesn't start with the nose. They rough out the whole figure in clay, close enough that you can see what it is, and then they refine. That's where this site is: a considered first version of the whole thing (the writing, the versions for different readers, the AI score, the changelog) in rough form. It isn't throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. It's getting the shape right before the detail. The fast calls are labeled in the changelog. Once there's a pattern, my guess is four to six posts in, I'll pick up the chisel: one change at a time, a guess about what it'll do, and a check on whether it did. Knowing when to switch is the hard part, so I'm writing it down now. Credit where it's due: this stands on Alistair Cockburn's walking skeleton (get a thin version of the whole thing working end to end first) and Kent Beck's "make it work, make it right, make it fast." I love both.
• Practice what I preach. Privacy first. Anything with cookies only with your OK, and a simple cookieless visit count for everyone, so I know if anyone's reading. Decisions made in the open.

What this site is not

• Not a sales page. There's nothing to buy.
• Not a growth hack. No traps, no engagement bait. (The airline ad is a joke, mostly.)
• Not finished. It changes, and I'll show how and why.

How I'll know it's working

Over months, not days.

• People push back, and the next piece is better for it.
• Someone uses an idea from here at work and tells me how it went.
• The email list grows because people want the next one.
• My mom reads her version and gets it. My kids pick a favorite at dinner.
• My own AI scores go up over time, because I'm writing more of the words myself.

What I'm watching

The early signs, tied to what I'm hoping for. Small numbers are fine. Direction matters more than size.

The slower signs, like someone using an idea at work or readers coming back month after month, take longer. I'll write up what I see, including when it's not much.

How decisions get made

Every change gets its own branch and a private preview before it goes live. Bigger features get the full product treatment, written up in public: the problem, a customer letter, a press release written before anything is built, the options, the first version, how it's measured, and what happened. Sometimes I'll do that after the fact, and I'll say so.

Every change also gets logged, with the time and the why, in a file that lives in source control right next to the code. The site won't let a change through without an entry, so the changelog can't quietly fall behind. Small, behind-the-scenes changes stay in the log but off the public page.

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