In my latest post, I delve into a range of intriguing topics, from my personal philosophy of “strategic opportunism,” blending long-term goals with short-term needs, to evolving tech trends. I’m excited to share insights on AI’s impact on software engineering, and why these innovations hold the key to future productivity. Plus, I explore why I steer clear of political discussions with friends and much more!
In a world increasingly divided by political affiliations, discussing politics with friends can become a delicate tightrope walk. This blog post delves into the author’s hesitations in engaging in political discourse with friends, emphasizing the influence of political tribes and the challenge of fostering unbiased discussions. By examining the intricacies of personal belief systems and the social dynamics involved, the author offers insights into how we can seek truth and enhance intellectual honesty in our political conversations.
The essay discusses the author’s reluctance to engage in political conversations with friends, highlighting the tribal nature of politics and the general unwillingness of people to engage in deep, unbiased reasoning. The author argues that people often cling to political tribes rather than informed views and that most prefer the comfort of their bubble over the complexity of nuanced truth. The essay explores the intellectual challenges involved in forming well-reasoned political views and suggests methods for improving reasoning through truth-seeking and unbiased examination.
The article discusses the benefits of integrating AI-powered coding tools into software development, based on the author’s experiences. While many developers report mixed results with AI tools, the author finds them particularly beneficial, especially for experienced developers who can strategically harness these tools for productivity gains. The author shares insights and best practices to optimize AI use for coding, emphasizing the importance of structured requirements, tool-based guardrails, and file-based keyframing to ensure quality and effective implementation.
In my latest blog post, I’ve put together a diverse collection of fascinating reads for you! From boosting email deliverability in 2025 and mastering product bundling, to building AI prototypes, this list has it all. Dive into intriguing insights like GitHub Actions, AI models, product team protocols, and even geek culture with “Real Genius.” There’s something exciting and informative for everyone, so don’t miss out!
Deadlines can often be seen as rigid markers of stress, but when used effectively, fake deadlines can become a tool to enhance productivity in engineering teams. Drawing from their experiences, James Stanier and Anton Zaides delve into the practicalities of utilizing fake deadlines. They highlight how these deadlines, when properly communicated and flexibly applied, can help prevent the pitfalls of Parkinson’s Law, keeping projects on track without driving engineers to burnout.
The article explores the use of ‘fake deadlines’ in engineering management, discussing both their benefits and drawbacks. The authors, James Stanier and Anton Zaides, draw from their own experiences to explain how challenging deadlines, though seemingly fake, can boost productivity by preventing project delays caused by Parkinson’s Law. They emphasize the importance of communication and flexibility in using deadlines effectively. The article advises managers to involve their teams in setting deadlines, push but not overburden team members, and ensure expectations and post-deadline outcomes are clear.
The TechCrunch article provides an overview of advanced AI models released in 2024 and 2025, focusing on their features, applications, and requirements. These AI models are developed by major tech companies and startups, showcasing a range of capabilities including reasoning, image and video generation, coding, and enhanced user interaction. This guide aims to help users differentiate between models and understand which might best suit their needs amidst a rapidly evolving AI landscape.
The content discusses effective strategies for developing AI systems, emphasizing the importance of focusing on measurement, iteration, and experimentation rather than solely on tools and architecture. Successful AI teams prioritize error analysis, simple data viewers, empowerment of domain experts, use of synthetic data, maintaining trust in evaluation systems, and structuring roadmaps around experiments rather than features.
In my latest blog post, I’ve curated some fantastic reads for you! We’re diving into a coding face-off between Gemini 2.5 Pro and Claude 3.7 Sonnet, exploring how to build an AI Assistant, and discovering why being “normal” might be overrated. Plus, we’re checking out how journalism schools are teaching newsletter skills, celebrating the 2025 Inbox Awards winners, and much more. Enjoy the exploration!
Normalcy often signifies conforming to societal standards, but doing so can lead to unhealthy living patterns and mediocrity. This blog explores why it’s crucial to embrace unique, health-focused lifestyles despite potential social isolation or judgment. The journey against normalcy involves making intentional life choices that balance personal growth with the need for connection and occasional indulgence.
The article discusses how conforming to societal norms, or being ‘normal,’ often leads to unhealthy habits and mediocrity. The author emphasizes the value of adopting healthier, more mindful living practices, albeit with the social consequence of feeling isolated or judged as ‘different’ by peers. The battle against normalcy involves making intentional choices about personal development while balancing the need for social connection and occasional indulgence.
The article discusses how journalism schools are incorporating newsletter skills into their curricula as newsletters become increasingly central to modern journalism. It explores how educators use newsletters as teaching tools to convey various journalism skills, both traditional and novel, such as editorial bias management, digital engagement, and revenue strategies. The piece emphasizes the evolving landscape of journalism, where newsletters serve as a direct bridge between journalists and audiences, highlighting the need for diverse skills from both editorial and marketing domains.
The Pragmatic Open Source Contributor guide outlines a comprehensive approach to contributing to open-source projects effectively. It emphasizes understanding the open-source environment, securing legal permissions, communicating efficiently with maintainers, and focusing on meticulous coding and documentation. Its primary aim is to overcome common barriers programmers face when contributing to open source, such as perceived irrelevance to their job, legal challenges, past frustrations, or time commitment fears. By fostering a shared knowledge ecosystem and providing a structured plan for open source contributions, this guide empowers developers to enhance and refine essential software tools they rely on.
Dotdash Meredith has collaborated with OpenAI to enhance its contextual ad product, D/Cipher. By integrating OpenAI’s large language model, Dotdash Meredith aims to improve the ability to make connections between pieces of content by understanding language and sentiment beyond keywords. This technology enhancement has resulted in a 30% increase in identifying connections across content. The company uses first-party data and human oversight to ensure the quality and relevance of these connections.
The article discusses Immediate Media’s strategic approach to maximizing return on investment (ROI) in content creation by innovating across the publishing process. Immediate Media, organized around three key verticals: Entertainment, Food, and Knowledge, uses a customer-led strategy and emphasizes the importance of repurposing content to best serve various consumer needs. They focus on knowledge sharing and innovation, allowing them to test formats and technologies across different brands, such as BBC Gardeners’ World’s multiplatform initiatives. This approach includes the development of digital assets, like podcasts and apps, to expand market reach and adapt to evolving consumer expectations.
In this blog post, I dive into various aspects of productivity and expertise, sharing intriguing insights like the science-backed steps to becoming an expert, the surprising impact air filters can have on education, and the truth about productivity myths. Plus, there’s an exploration of how AI is impacting creativity and advertising, and essential advice from a seasoned decision coach. It’s a fascinating blend of knowledge, perfect for anyone looking to optimize their performance and understanding.
Becoming an expert in any field is an admirable goal, but it requires more than just dedication. Recent scientific research has identified five key strategies that can help you achieve mastery and become an expert. These strategies include understanding fundamental concepts, engaging in deliberate and challenging practice, using distributed practice over cramming, receiving balanced feedback, and ensuring long-term retention of knowledge through overlearning and interleaving tasks. By focusing on these proven methods, you can efficiently navigate the journey to expertise and see tangible results in your chosen discipline.
The article outlines five key strategies for achieving expertise in any field, based on scientific research on skill acquisition. It emphasizes the importance of understanding fundamental concepts, engaging in challenging and deliberate practice, using distributed practice instead of cramming, receiving balanced feedback, and ensuring long-term knowledge retention through techniques such as overlearning and interleaving tasks.
The text examines Peter Drucker’s insights on the productivity revolution, focusing on the challenges of knowledge work compared to manual labor. Drucker emphasized the importance of defining knowledge work, setting clear expectations, and measuring productivity by meaningful outcomes rather than sheer volume. The content suggests that many organizations have misapplied productivity models designed for manual labor to knowledge work, leading to inefficiencies such as excessive meetings and reactive work cycles. Drucker’s ideas on expectation management and shifting the focus from productivity to productiveness are proposed as ways to achieve meaningful progress in knowledge work.
The article discusses the challenges of managing to-dos in the face of constant interruptions and notifications, drawing on insights from a survey of knowledge workers across several countries. The survey highlights the importance of having an organizational system for to-do lists to combat the chaos of modern work life. It presents strategies for improving personal productivity, such as timeboxing and prioritizing tasks, and suggests using tools like Trello for better task management.
The article by Chris Bailey discusses research indicating that the time one wakes up does not impact productivity or socioeconomic success. Instead, it emphasizes the importance of how one uses their waking hours deliberately. The article suggests that productivity is more about how one manages their time and energy throughout the day, rather than adhering to an early wake-up routine.
The article discusses the four ‘superpowers’ of artificial intelligence (AI) that enhance product functionalities: content creation, summarization, basic data analysis, and perspective taking. It emphasizes the importance of choosing the right technological tool by starting from the problem rather than the technology itself. The piece advocates for using AI judiciously to ensure user engagement and positive business impacts, illustrating each AI ‘superpower’ with examples from various companies. The overall message is to integrate AI solutions thoughtfully, ensuring they align with clearly defined user outcomes.
The INMA Webinar featured Michael McCarthy from Hearst Newspapers discussing the integration of generative AI into advertising sales and media planning. This AI-driven approach addresses key sales challenges by automating routine tasks, enhancing personalization, and improving engagement with clients. With tools like AI-generated media plans and AI coaching for sales reps, the transition to AI in Hearst has been gradual and carefully managed, focusing on building trust and enhancing the capabilities of team members.
The article examines actions taken by President Trump’s administration that threaten the fundamental rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It highlights the administration’s attempts to undermine freedoms of speech, the press, assembly, religion, and the right to petition the government. Key areas of concern include actions against journalists, universities, and judges, as well as the administration’s challenges to legal protections and freedom of information.
The article discusses the future of advertising and technology, highlighting how initial technological advantages in industries do not last long, leading to a point where creativity and differentiating via design and branding become crucial. Despite technological parity, creative ideas and unique approaches will ultimately set companies apart in saturated markets.
The article discusses the common mistake people make when making decisions: choosing based on their aspirational selves rather than their real selves. Decision coach Nell Wulfhart advises against making decisions for the person you wish to be and instead encourages making decisions aligned with your current self. She highlights the importance of recognizing ‘red flag phrases’ that indicate decisions might not align with one’s true self. Reflecting on personal values and making choices aligned with them can lead to more satisfying outcomes.
Hey there! So, I decided to take a 300-mile drive through rural Virginia and then did something a bit unusual—I requested the police to give me their public surveillance footage of my car. It was quite an eye-opening experience, and I learned some fascinating things about privacy and surveillance. Curious about the whole adventure and what I discovered? You’ll definitely want to check it out!
In my latest blog post, I dive into a wide array of topics! From exploring the power of print and product management types, to Bloomberg’s innovative audience strategies and breaking free from anti-patterns. I also share fascinating reads on creating artificial sunlight, using different dashes, and the latest AI breakthroughs in weather forecasting and language model mechanics. There’s something for every curious mind!
