Writing
Notes from the work.
Essays, short posts, and the occasional talk — mostly about engineering leadership, product craft, and how teams ship things that matter.
- Oct 2026Career
I was doing senior-level work extremely well. That's exactly why I wasn't getting promoted.
More systems owned, more shipped, higher quality — I thought that was the path to the next level. It isn't. Scope, assignment, and visibility all change above senior, and the friction they generate is the part nobody warns you about.
- Sep 2026Focus & Learning
I optimized what I read. I forgot to optimize what I remember.
A filter, a timer, and an overnight AI agent made my information diet efficient — yet I retained no more than when I was doomscrolling. Why curation isn't learning, and the one question after reading that changes it.
- Sep 2026Engineering Leadership
Owning a mistake only counts if a system changes
Three weeks before a deadline, my first team needed six more months. What I learned about trusting without verifying, thanking the person who brings bad news, and the estimation template that finally produced dates we hit.
- Sep 2026AI & Future of Work
Build an antifragile career in the AI era
AI is disrupting the tools, workflows, and assumptions many careers were built on. Drawing on Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s idea of antifragility, this article explores how judgment, experimentation, transferable skills, and optionality can help us grow stronger through uncertainty.
- Aug 2026Newsletter
Both Columns
Most AI dashboards measure inputs — tokens, PRs, prompts accepted — not whether any of it worked. What Meta's failed AI-native reorg teaches us about measuring outcomes, not activity.
- Aug 2026Career
How to handle a disappointing performance review
You may hear 30 minutes of praise and still walk away angry. Here's how to turn that moment into a clear roadmap for next year — without getting defensive or disengaged.
- Jun 2026Leadership
The best calibration room isn't the one you think
I used to think the best calibration room was the loudest one. Here's what I learned about how great teams actually make fair, high-signal decisions about people.
- Apr 2026AI & Engineering
AI can now write code that took you years to learn
What it means for engineers when models can produce code that used to take a career to master — and where human judgment still wins.
- Apr 2026Industry
I've seen a lot of big weeks in tech…
Notes on the pace of change in the industry and how to stay grounded when every week feels like an inflection point.
- Apr 2026Career
Five years before I became a manager…
The quiet shift that started years before the title — and what I wish I'd known about preparing for the leap into management.
- Apr 2026Leadership
On leadership, communication, and career growth
How clear communication compounds into trust, opportunity, and the kind of career that doesn't depend on luck.
- Apr 2026AI
An ancient Indian fable predicted the AI moment
A short parable that captures, better than any framework, what's actually happening as AI reshapes how we work.
- Apr 2026Leadership
Notes on leadership and engineering management
What I've learned about growing engineers, protecting focus, and making the org chart serve the work — not the other way around.
- Apr 2026Future of Work
The future of work in an AI-first world
Where AI is actually changing tech leadership today — and what stays stubbornly, irreducibly human.
- Apr 2026Leadership
Growth mindset and executive presence
Executive presence isn't a costume. It's the visible version of the work you've put into how you think.
- Mar 2026Engineering Management
Engineering management in the generative AI era
How the manager's job is changing as generative AI reshapes what software engineering looks like day to day.
- Mar 2026Career
Software engineering, leadership, and career growth
The connection between technical depth and long-term career trajectory — and why neither survives without the other.
- Mar 2026Mentorship
Leadership, software engineering, and mentorship
Mentorship isn't a side project — it's one of the highest-leverage things a senior engineer or manager can do.
- Mar 2026Career
Your ability to pivot isn't just a nice skill
Why adaptability has quietly become one of the most valuable traits in modern tech careers.
- Feb 2026Strategy
Product management, AI strategy, and leadership
How product, AI strategy, and engineering leadership have to move together to ship anything that matters.
- Jan 2026Productivity
Productivity, leadership, and personal development
The systems and habits that quietly compound into better work — and a calmer week.
- Jan 2026Deep Work
The 5 AM club, productivity, and deep work
What actually happens when you protect the first hours of your day for the work that matters most.
- Dec 2025Leadership
Leadership and radical candor
Care personally, challenge directly — and what it actually looks like in the messy middle of real teams.
- Dec 2025Career
Leadership and the IC career path
Why the individual contributor track deserves the same intentional career design we give to managers.
- Nov 2024Microsoft 365
The future of video in Microsoft 365
How modern collaboration is reshaping the way teams create, share, and learn from video at work.