Why Fundamentals Matter Most When the Pressure’s On

The trophy is easy to see. The work that earned it isn’t. When you watch a championship game played in brutal conditions, the lesson is obvious. The teams that survive aren’t the flashiest. They’re the ones that can execute the fundamentals when everything else breaks down. The 2025 Patriots are a good example of a […]

The Cost of Shipping ‘Almost’ Working Software

Before going any further, I’ll name the product I’ve been circling to and hinting at the past several posts. The system I’m building is called CoffeeBreak. It’s a human-in-the-loop AI teammate designed to assist across the entire software development lifecycle. I’ve avoided leading with the name because this problem exists whether CoffeeBreak ever ships or […]

Why the First Users Shouldn’t Be the Loudest Ones

Every product has early users. The question is whether they’re chosen intentionally or show up by default. Too often, early access is treated like a reward. The loudest voices get in first. Feedback comes quickly. Expectations get set before the product has found its footing. That rarely leads to better software. Early Users Shape the […]

The Problem Most Teams Are Trying to Solve Without Naming It

Most software teams aren’t short on tools. They have ticketing systems, CI/CD pipelines, observability dashboards, documentation platforms, chat tools, and now a growing set of AI-powered assistants layered on top of everything else. And yet, many teams still feel slower than they should. The Work Between the Work When teams describe their challenges, they often […]