03
Dec
The Ultimate Red Flag
“We Are All the Same Team”
The strongest teams never need to say this sentence.
The weakest teams repeat it endlessly.
3 min read
engineering culture
02
Dec
The Russian Dolls of Real Engineering
Most organisations lose track not because people lack discipline, but because the work lacks a centre of gravity. Teams optimise for tasks, not concepts. They produce fragments, not systems. They move fast, but without structure, so speed becomes noise.
3 min read
01
Dec
Monday Myth: “Engineering Must Know Everything in Advance”
A stubborn myth persists in tech: engineering must foresee everything before writing a single line of code. Perfect requirements. Perfect risk maps. Perfect predictability. It is not professionalism. It is fear.
3 min read
28
Nov
Friday Fun: The Gollums of Tech
Every organisation has at least one Gollum. Not evil. Worse. Someone who clings to a system, a domain, or a piece of code with a devotion completely disconnected from reality.
4 min read
27
Nov
Common Sense Has Left the Building
There was a time when engineering relied on something simple and powerful: shared understanding. Unwritten principles, basic reasoning, and a sense of direction that did not need to be re-explained every week. The obvious remained obvious.
Today, the obvious is an endangered species.
5 min read
24
Nov
Monday Myth: The Cult of Belief
The modern workplace has mistaken belief for competence. Leaders preach that unless you “believe in the mission”, “feel aligned”, or “find your spark”, you cannot deliver excellence. Emotional alignment has become a moral test. But this doctrine has produced fragility, not performance
3 min read
21
Nov
The Lemming That Saved the Branch
A cheerful parable about accidental brilliance, corporate physics, and why some companies survive against all logic.
4 min read
20
Nov
Clarity Is the First Platform
Every broken platform begins with a broken language. Semantic decay is the quietest organisational failure, and the most lethal. Systems drift, decisions degrade, and people hide behind vague words they never define. Then they blame engineering for the wreckage they created.
3 min read
18
Nov
The Modern Barabbas
The story of Pilate is remembered not because he chose evil, but because he chose nothing. He recognised the right path, understood the consequences, and stepped aside anyway. He performed neutrality while the worst forces advanced.
This is the defining pattern of modern organisational decline.
4 min read
17
Nov
The Asimov Paradox: How Certainty Destroys Predictability
The Asimov Paradox describes a system in which Product and Engineering enter a self‑reinforcing loop of false certainty, eroded craft, and misaligned incentives. Each discipline believes it operates correctly. Each waits for the other. Neither generates information.
4 min read