Daily reflections on the reality of building software
.NET Plugin Architecture Design - September 24, 2025
Looking at Software Through the Manufacturing Product Development Lens - September 18, 2025 - A deep conversation exploring Poppendieck’s premise and the fundamental nature of software systems. Examining how manufacturing principles reveal the flaws in current software engineering orthodoxy.
Making Software Like Making Movies - September 18, 2025 - Why software development shares more with filmmaking than engineering. On creative collaboration, iterative refinement, and the art of turning vision into reality through organized chaos.
The Incredible Shrinking Software Developer: Why Code is Invisible and Quality Doesn’t Matter - September 15, 2025 - How software’s fundamental invisibility creates a management crisis where non-technical leaders make technical decisions. Explores the psychological toll on developers, recent disasters like CrowdStrike, and why we’re the only profession managed by people who can’t see the work.
The Dull Hatchet Problem: Software Craftsmanship Through Wilderness Wisdom - September 10, 2025 - Dick Proenneke’s cabin-building philosophy applied to software development. On tool mastery, constraint-driven building, and why the industry’s complexity addiction might be killing quality.
From Software Engineering to Software Farming - September 9, 2025 - A paradigm shift in project management. Why software is more like tending a living farm than building a bridge. Working with constraints, seasons, and practical wisdom.
Ask-Based Planning: How to Actually Make Decisions - September 9, 2025 - Stop the estimation theater and taxonomy debates. Everything is just an “ask” - evaluate it on impact, effort, and constraints. Includes priority frameworks, risk assessment, and the 5 Whys technique.
Why We Might Be Building Web Apps All Wrong - September 5, 2025 - How 1990s CGI architecture might save us from framework prison. A conversation about escaping monolithic architectures and rediscovering composable software.
Software Engineering’s Hidden Reality - August 28, 2025 - The complete conversation about technical debt, legacy systems, and why 95% of production code is garbage. Digital archaeology in hoarder houses of code.
Strategy Pattern Discussion - August 28, 2025 - Deep dive into design patterns and their practical applications in real-world systems.
Software Excellence Discussion - August 28, 2025 - What makes software truly excellent beyond just working code. The tension between good enough and perfect.
Software Engineering Immaturity - August 28, 2025 - Why our field hasn’t matured like other engineering disciplines. The uncomfortable truths about our industry.
Linux CoC & HR Patterns - August 14, 2025 - Examining code of conduct patterns in open source and their broader implications.
August 13 Reflections - August 13, 2025 - Thoughts on software development practices and industry observations.
This is where I document the reality of software engineering - not the theory, but what actually happens when code meets production.
I explore:
These aren’t polished tutorials or best practice guides. They’re honest conversations about the mess we call software engineering, the trade-offs we make, and the patterns that keep repeating across every codebase I’ve touched.
Some entries are structured essays, others are raw explorations of ideas. All of them come from real experience in the trenches of production systems.
“The best code is no code. The second best code is code that works. Everything else is negotiable.”