Software Engineering
144 articles · all categories
Software Engineering articles
September 2024
Why software projects fail
5 common themes
August 2024
What helps you ship confidently?
Been thinking about what needs to be in place for engineers to ship with confidence
Let small fires burn
You can't fix everything. Focus on the next big thing and let the small fires burn.
Small change in big scary codebase?
Making small changes in large unfamiliar codebases is the job. That's what engineers do all day.
Why SQL is Forever followup
Yes SQL is super flexible. That is its strenght and its weakness
July 2024
Why SQL is Forever
Never underestimate the power of good marketing for bad products. NoSQL was fun but SQL is here to stay.
90% of performance is data access patterns
Removing a single line of code slashed database CPU usage by 66% 🤘
DRY – the common source of bad abstractions
Swizec reveals the hidden pitfalls of overusing the DRY principle in coding, leading to bad abstractions. Discover how to write adaptable, efficient code that avoids these common traps.
Scaling Fast, my talk on lessons from tech startups
This talk from C3Fest summarizes the key lessons I've learned in the past ~15 years of working in tech startups. It's a high level overview of a new book I'm writing (60% done).
You can't side-quest a product
Here's a trap that talented engineers fall into all the time. It creates frustration, burnout, and the genre of tweets that read like "Why don't people care about the amazing work I'm doing".
June 2024
6 books engineers should read
Here are 6 books I'd buy every engineer who joins my team, if I ran a team. You might like 'em too.
It’s okay to just do the work
Not everything needs to work forever. Start by solving the problem
May 2024
Why you shouldn't use AI to write your tests
If you derive tests from your implementation, you can't apply the Beyonce rule. What if the code is wrong and that wasn't the programmer's intent? We'll never know. The bug now exists in both places.
April 2024
43 years of the actor model
The actor model is now part of everyday tooling and ensures concurrency safety. Understanding the principles behind it helps you write less buggy code.
From trivial to complex – 4 software quadrants
You can classify software projects into 4 quadrants from trivial to complex
March 2024
Architecture is like a path in the woods
You're doing too much. Sit back, relax, see how people *want* to use the code. THEN build the abstraction.
December 2023
Keeping a high engineering culture, tips from the field
I asked engineers how they keep a high quality culture. These are the takeaways
November 2023
The efficacy of TypeScript
TypeScript may streamline code navigation and catch semantic errors, but it doesn't guarantee fewer bugs or faster fixes.
Don't neglect your upgrades
Regular software updates may seem tedious, but they save you from the nightmare of a massive overhaul down the line.
October 2023
Solve the problem, not a different more difficult problem
Solve the problem at hand, not the one you imagine might come next. A simple fix now often beats a complex one later.
August 2023
Avoid spooky action at a distance
Shared state in programming isn't the enemy, it's unclear dependencies that tangle your code. Keep it clean with explicit state dependencies and strict access guidelines
Finding modules in a Big Ball of Mud with ChatGPT
Detangling a Big Ball of Mud is hard. You have to find domain boundaries where none exist. Looks like AI can help 🤩
Followup answers to Forget complicated code, focus on the system
Why are utility files bad? How do you recognize architectural complexity? What the hell is a transitive dependency?
Forget complicated code, focus on the system
Clean code matters, but it's the architectural complexity that truly impacts your productivity and bug count. Focus on simplifying the system, not just the code.
July 2023
What I learned from Team Topologies
You can't escape Conway's Law. Might as well use it for good.
Different worlds
Different lenses, different worlds. Your perspective is shaped by your experiences. Even in debates, all sides can be right in their own context.
You can't stop the business, or why rewrites fail
Rewriting code isn't a magic fix-all. Consider the opportunity cost, complexity of the old system, and estimation challenges. Instead of stopping all to rewrite or building new while maintaining the old, try incremental improvements and new code adoption.
June 2023
When to throw away your code
Delete code when it stops providing value 💡 All code is a liability; context matters. Keep what solves problems, toss the rest.
What does "solve problems" even mean
Focus on solving problems, not just doing work or writing code. Think creatively, question existing processes, and prioritize effective outcomes
Why taming architectural complexity is paramount
Unravel the hidden costs of architectural complexity in software engineering and learn practical strategies to tackle it. Boost productivity, reduce defects, and improve staff retention with insights from an MIT PhD thesis.