Reader Question
36 articles · all categories
Reader Question articles
7 articles from 2025 · show all
September 2025
Should you join an AI startup right now?
Beyond income there's 2 reasons to take any specific job: Invest in yourself or invest in the company. Both is best.
August 2025
Pair programming
Great for learning those little tricks of the trade you forgot you even learned
July 2025
A few more thoughts on mentoring
Wanted to share a few more thoughts on my mentoring philosophy and answer questions that readers asked
May 2025
How do you find time for cleanup work
A reader asks how do you find time for technical cleanup work. If OKRs and bugs take priority, when will you make improvements?
March 2025
Sprint vs Shape Up vs Kanban
Whenever I talk about sprints, someone mentions Shape Up. So you have 9 week sprints – what's the difference?
What I mean by "tests can be slop"
Tests may look like slop, but make them clear, not clever. Best practices are key: Test outcomes, not code. Name with intent. Keep tests independent. More straightforward tests beat fewer abstract ones.
February 2025
How *do* you break down a large project? INVEST
Going from Big Vision to Series of Executable Steps is a key skill for senior+ engineers. PMs can help but they don't know everything.