Three AI Agents, One SpecThere’s been a steady undercurrent of people switching tools lately. Copilot to Claude. Claude to something else. Codex quietly entering more workflows. A lot of confidence in different directions, ofMar 3, 2026·5 min read·7
Guiding Without OwningOwnership is powerful. In our team, we lean into it hard - minimal hand-holding, maximum space for people to make their own calls. Most of the time, it works beautifully. But there are edge cases where ownership slips into something else entirely. On...Sep 2, 2025·2 min read·14
How to Listen Without FixingI've always been a fixer. My instinct is to protect, to solve, to step in. A close friend once told me I have “White Knight Syndrome” - I never checked if that's really a thing, but it fits. At my core, I want to take away the struggle, to shield oth...Aug 26, 2025·2 min read·24
The Subtle Art of Asking the Second QuestionIn 1:1s, whether with my reports or on the rare occasion with my own lead, I’ve noticed something: the safe answer. You know the one. It’s in response to “How are you doing?” It’s polite. Acceptable. Technically honest — yet designed to sidestep the ...Aug 19, 2025·2 min read·44
How to Build Teams That Ask Questions Out LoudA quiet team can feel safe on the surface — no conflict, no interruptions, no awkward moments. But here’s the problem: with a quiet team, you don’t know what you don’t know. When people keep thoughts in their heads, you can miss out on ideas, risks, ...Aug 12, 2025·3 min read·14
The Tradeoffs of Technical OwnershipTechnical ownership sounds great on paper. It means someone cares. Someone is responsible. Someone knows the system inside out. But like most things in engineering, it comes with tradeoffs. At a previous company, I was the sole owner of two codebases...Aug 5, 2025·2 min read·10
Why Senior Engineers Don’t Need All the AnswersThere's this quiet myth in engineering that once you hit “senior,” you'll just know. You'll have all the answers, solve problems on the fly, and be the go-to for anything and everything. But here's the truth I've come to learn: I often prefer not to ...Jul 29, 2025·3 min read·13
