Articles

How we think about the work

Eleven articles on what AI actually changes about senior engineering — the hiring funnel, the unbundling of the engineering role, and the habits that stop a team accelerating in the wrong direction.

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A monitor showing a pull request list — eighteen merged PRs and “0 releases in 6 weeks” — beside a handwritten release checklist, a wall chart reading “Nothing shipped 0”, and a sticky note saying “Ship it”.

AI made our measurement problem worse, not better.

AI accelerates whatever direction you’re pointed in, including deeper into a hole you didn’t know you were in. When the measurement is wrong, free typing makes it worse.

Two LEGO minifigures on a desk: a racing driver in a helmet holding a steering wheel, and a tuxedoed crooner singing into a microphone.

I’m not an AI Guru. I’m an LLM user.

Like a racing driver, I’m expert at using the tool — not at building it. Don’t call me a mechanic when all I do is sit behind the wheel and press the gas.

Two laptops on a desk — one labelled “Demo Room” showing a pair programming session, one labelled “Kitchen” showing a six-person video call of people holding mugs and laughing.

The daily standup is dead. We replaced it with a kitchen.

Fifteen minutes, three questions, reported blindly to people who aren’t really listening. We stopped doing it and replaced it with a kitchen.

A galvanised bucket crammed with LEGO minifigures and loose bricks, plastered with labels reading Pre-vetted talent, Top 1%, Senior specialists, Carefully curated and Hand-picked, beside a contract and a fan of banknotes.

Sir/Madam Agent — do you actually know who you’re selling me?

An open letter to every agency with a “carefully curated bench of senior talent” — three questions I’d like answered before you send me a single CV.

An office with three empty interview chairs and a monitor reading “Applications (2,856) — Loading”, while a crowd of candidates holding CVs presses against the window outside.

1000 applicants, 3 jobs.

Three roles, a thousand applicants, and why I’m hiring mid-level rather than senior or junior. How you choose when the funnel is beyond human reading.

A LEGO minifigure in a dressing gown and sunglasses holding a book marked GUIDE, standing on a desk between two screens of code, with a LEGO Death Star on the shelf behind.

Claude told me 42. I never asked the question.

Deep Thought answered 42 because nobody had understood the question. The same thing happens with an LLM on a Tuesday afternoon, and noticing is your job.

A fully assembled LEGO Death Star on an executive desk beside a closed laptop, a coffee mug, spare bricks and an open handwritten notebook.

My CEO built his own battle station.

My CEO sent me a two-page technical specification he hadn’t read, titled “Yo, I have spec for you”. What happens when the people above you can build their own proofs.

An empty, sunlit meeting room with rows of old chairs facing a projector screen headed “MVC vs MVVM”, comparing Model/View/Controller with Model/View/ViewModel.

I’ve been writing code since the ’80s and Apple apps since iOS 3. I’d never get hired today — and the hiring system is right.

I’ve written code since the ’80s and shipped Apple apps since iOS 3. I’d never get hired today — and the uncomfortable part is that the funnel isn’t wrong.