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Backseat software
Worthy read for all modern software builders.
Something that has been top of mind for me:
There’s a quieter consequence here that doesn’t get talked about much. When experimentation becomes the primary decision-making tool, a strong product vision becomes optional.
This is something a lot of us feel as we work on software applications. However, money is such a huge motivator that we often stay true to the path of “we’re here to make money so let’s do that”. Easy to get vision based bets wrong. Hard to call it a failure when you can see more transactions flowing in.
I do love using software applications that’s exercised restraint. That’s how a creator pours their love into what they made.
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Promotion based development
Brent Simmons highlights how corporate cultures often prioritise promotion-seeking over real innovation, a reality I’ve seen myself. Even after reaching Principal Engineer, I realised titles are often cosmetic distractions from the work that actually matters. We need to stop chasing arbitrary milestones and get back to the pure joy of building.
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Don’t build platforms and products at the same time
Building a platform alongside a product is hard. It is even harder when it is done for a brand new product. It requires a deep level of understanding of what a customer is looking for. Creators must imagine a system that will enable that with flexibility for pivots. Early iterations set the pace for creating…
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Chatlog: why can’t we make big, bold, innovative ideas work in an enterprise?
Chat with friends: exploring the challenges big tech companies face in making bold, innovative decisions due to structural inertia and revenue protection. It contrasts this with the agility of startups and founder-led companies that embrace risk and experimentation.
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Eric Schmidt never disappoints
Talks of big ideas and where AI is going.
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Design in HTML/CSS
Friend of mine was mentioning how some companies are looking to dump Figma in favour of Replit. It reminded me of this old blog post from the (now retired) Signal vs Noise by Basecamp.
https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1061-why-we-skip-photoshop
Note, this is from 2008 when people made website designs in Photoshop. However, this applies to design tools today as well. Some of the complaints in this post are alleviated in modern tooling (like collaboration). The core idea of using the actual medium to make designs is still hugely valuable.
If you are hiring a designer, I’d highly recommend getting someone who can prototype in HTML/CSS (and perhaps React so they can use the prescribed design library alongside). Nothing like the real thing. Nothing like being able to squeeze that browser window to see if it works on a smaller screen.
Most importantly, there will be no ambiguity when it comes to deploying to production. Developer just has to wire it up and it’ll work just like the designer thought it would.
Skip the tools, go straight to the medium that customers experience the product in.
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Strategy vs Planning
Good video on the differences.
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Writing software at an enterprise require different architecture tradeoffs
This post delves into balancing autonomy and consistency, why duplication isn’t always bad, and how simplicity can outshine forced uniformity. It offers practical principles for creating systems that adapt and thrive in complex environments.
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Bluesky seems cool
I gave up on most things “social media” years ago, resorting to just messaging friends.
However, I was fascinated by the idea of Bluesky. AT Protocol seems very interesting. So does its idea of applying composable moderation and selecting an algorithm to augment your personal experience instead of deciding a one-size-first-all approach.
Perhaps the best thing about it is that it works like the open web. Really cool. I love this.
Follow me: https://bsky.app/profile/dinethmendis.com
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I moved to WordPress
I’ve been writing a blog since I’ve been in high-school. At first, it was fun to make websites and be part of the Internet (this was pre-Facebook). I was in love with my monochromatic colour palettes. The posts… well, they were the voice of my teenage brain — scattered and overly sassy. I continued to…
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Allow projects to have exploration time
We’ve been working on some terrific discovery stage projects in my team. We are all super pumped about it. Team has come up with some fresh ideas and a vision to execute on. However, we are very much seasoned in working within fixed structured, mature projects. Usually, we either work on small pieces or large…
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How neural networks and LLMs work?
If you are looking to dive into machine learning, how neural networks and LLMs work underneath, this is a really good YouTube course to watch.
Really good chapters list:
- But what is a neural network?
- Gradient descent, how neural networks learn
- What is backpropagation really doing?
- Backpropagation calculus
- How large language models work, a visual intro to transformers
- Attention in transformers, visually explained
- How might LLMs store facts
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDNU6R1_67000Dx_ZCJB-3pi
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Difficult job of focusing in a large organisation
It is time to work through our division operating plan for 2025. We’ve had many hours of discussions around which customers to focus on, volatility in the market, where we should build trust with customers and what kind of initiatives will amount to strong growth. I find it energising to spend time thinking about these.…
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