Excellence

10
Dec
What the Hunting Licence Reveals About Systems, Tradition, and the Discipline Modern IT Lost

What the Hunting Licence Reveals About Systems, Tradition, and the Discipline Modern IT Lost

The French hunting licence is not a recreational certification. It is a demanding, consequence-driven system refined over more than fifty years. It embodies principles that modern IT has repeatedly forgotten.
5 min read
08
Dec
The Day I Stopped Lowering the Bar for Anyone

The Day I Stopped Lowering the Bar for Anyone

Two cats gone. Lola first. Minette now. Both died with their eyes open, and with a level of dignity that people in positions of responsibility no longer even attempt to match.
2 min read
05
Dec
The Illusion of The One: Why Modern IT Recycles Its Best and Rewards Its Worst

The Illusion of The One: Why Modern IT Recycles Its Best and Rewards Its Worst

A Matrix-inspired dissection of modern IT, infused with the Architect’s precision.
3 min read
04
Dec
The Joy of Clean Interfaces: Why Respecting Standards Is the Ultimate Acceleration Hack

The Joy of Clean Interfaces: Why Respecting Standards Is the Ultimate Acceleration Hack

Every company claims it wants speed. Very few earn it. Real acceleration does not come from heroics, fashionable frameworks, or quarterly alignment rituals. It comes from a single, unglamorous truth: Interfaces decide everything.
4 min read
01
Dec
Monday Myth: “Engineering Must Know Everything in Advance”

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
27
Nov
Common Sense Has Left the Building

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
25
Nov
The System Lives Longer Than You

The System Lives Longer Than You

In every mature engineering discipline, the creator disappears and the system remains. Railways, bridges, aircraft, industrial plants, power grids, and
4 min read
24
Nov
Monday Myth: The Cult of Belief

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
20
Nov
Clarity Is the First Platform

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
19
Nov
Tech Through the Barbarian Lens

Tech Through the Barbarian Lens

Modern tech resembles an empire in decline. The barbarians are not outside the gates. They already run the place.
4 min read