Writing

I started writing about software and publishing it on the internet in 2016. My writing then was largely focused on programming craft, golang internals and infrastructure — foobarcat.blogspot.com.

Now my focus is primarily mechanism level analysis and intervention in systems where software, organisations, and human psychology intersect. I also use this space to share context and provide updates on ongoing projects.

Articles

Building a Personal Film System
A build log on turning a recommendation website and a messy markdown watchlist into a system that answers the question "what should I watch tonight?".
July 11, 2026 · Projects · 8 min read
Context Observability
What context is, why it matters and how to gain observability over it — Improving the effectiveness of LLM assisted workflows.
July 06, 2026 · Artificial Intelligence · 6 min read
The Economics of Slop
Examining the structural forces governing the phenomenon of 'slop', what it means for the future of engineering, and how organisations and engineers can respond.
June 24, 2026 · Artificial Intelligence · 10 min read
The Software Engineer and the Steam Drill
What American folklore can teach us about what happens to software engineers when AI makes implementation labour cheap, tireless and abundant.
June 10, 2026 · Artificial Intelligence · 8 min read
Harnessing the Engine
AI is a generative engine capable of extraordinary power; the right engineering system can transform that power into leverage.
June 04, 2026 · Artificial Intelligence · 6 min read
Leveraging AI to Build a Style App over Easter Weekend
A four-day AI-assisted MVP build of Sextant, a style app exploring signal calibration through software.
May 29, 2026 · Projects · 7 min read
Friction as Social Infrastructure
How modern systems can optimise away the everyday necessity of co-operation, eroding the mechanism through which social trust is built.
May 19, 2026 · Software and Society · 6 min read
The Importance of Expectation Management
Estimates do not just predict outcomes; they construct the frame through which they are judged.
May 11, 2026 · Engineering Leadership · 6 min read
The Priest and the Prompt
AI assistants are encountered as neutral tools, but increasingly operate as interpreters of meaning, shaping conscience in ways once associated with religious institutions.
April 28, 2026 · Software and Society · 7 min read
Initiative: Harnessing Adaptability under Uncertainty
On the nature of initiative, under what conditions it emerges, how it can be promoted, and how it can help or hinder an organisation.
April 18, 2026 · Engineering Leadership · 10 min read
Reality, Failure and Feedback
Exposure to reality and the feedback from it determines the reliability of models and the systems which are built upon them.
March 07, 2026 · Engineering Leadership · 7 min read
The Signal and the Self
The signal we emit often lags reality, but can be reconciled via calibration, introducing Sextant - a tool for signal calibration through clothing.
February 16, 2026 · Software and Society · 4 min read
The Failure of Fridge Futurism
A case study and analysis into why 'smart fridges' failed to take off and what this means for product design.
February 12, 2026 · Software and Society · 5 min read
What Ownership Really Means
Exploring the nature of ownership as a structural force, and the profound effects that it can have upon behaviour through the aligning of incentives.
January 24, 2026 · Engineering Leadership · 6 min read
Why Reliability Is Structurally Undervalued
An exploration of why reliability failures persist in spite of capable engineers, mature tooling and stable processes, and how this can be remedied.
January 12, 2026 · Engineering Leadership · 6 min read
The Properties that Sustain Organisational Alignment
Organisations that remain aligned do not do so accidentally; they do so because they support properties that align incentives behind mission.
December 17, 2025 · Engineering Leadership · 8 min read
Incentives: The True Architecture of Organisations
Incentives form the load bearing structure of an organisation and dictate whether action is aligned with mission or is diverted by drift.
December 03, 2025 · Engineering Leadership · 4 min read
Security and Engineering - Competing Incentives
How Security and Engineering's natural incentives can conflict and how they can be reconciled.
November 19, 2025 · Engineering Leadership · 3 min read
Building the Baconometer
How I built a film network exploration tool powered by a graph database.
July 21, 2025 · Projects · 7 min read