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Control and complexity: tension in systems design The adoption of LLMs in software development has led countless organizations to rapidly change their...
10th Aug 2026
1

Control and complexity: tension in systems design

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

10th Aug 2026
The adoption of LLMs in software development has led countless organizations to rapidly change their practices and structures. Old methods are questioned, replaced, and repurposed as the economics around creating new code get shaken up. Because humans and LLMs aren’t...
The Picture They Paint of You I keep noticing that the way AI SREs and coding agents are sold is fairly different: coding...
23rd Feb 2026
1

The Picture They Paint of You

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

23rd Feb 2026
I keep noticing that the way AI SREs and coding agents are sold is fairly different: coding assistants are framed as augmenting engineers and are given names, and AI SREs are named “AI SRE” and generally marketed as a good way to make sure nobody is distracted by unproductive...
Software Acceleration and Desynchronization A bit more than a month ago, I posted the following on social media: Seeing more reports and...
5th Jan 2026
1

Software Acceleration and Desynchronization

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

5th Jan 2026
A bit more than a month ago, I posted the following on social media: Seeing more reports and industry players blaming code reviews for slowing down the quick development done with AI. It's unclear whether anyone's asking if this is just moving the cognitive bottleneck of...
Ongoing Tradeoffs, and Incidents as Landmarks One of the really valuable things you can get out of in-depth incident investigations is a better...
20th Sep 2025
1

Ongoing Tradeoffs, and Incidents as Landmarks

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

20th Sep 2025
One of the really valuable things you can get out of in-depth incident investigations is a better understanding of how work is actually done, as opposed to how we think work is done, or how it is specified. A solid approach to do this is to get people back into what things felt...
The Gap Through Which We Praise the Machine In this post I’ll expose my current theory of agentic programming: people are amazing at adapting...
9th Jun 2025
1

The Gap Through Which We Praise the Machine

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

9th Jun 2025
In this post I’ll expose my current theory of agentic programming: people are amazing at adapting the tools they’re given and totally underestimate the extent to which they do it, and the amount of skill we build doing that is an incidental consequence of how badly the tools are...
AI: Where in the Loop Should Humans Go? This is a re-publishing of a blog post I originally wrote for work, but wanted on my own blog as...
7th Mar 2025
72

AI: Where in the Loop Should Humans Go?

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

7th Mar 2025
This is a re-publishing of a blog post I originally wrote for work, but wanted on my own blog as well. AI is everywhere, and its impressive claims are leading to rapid adoption. At this stage, I’d qualify it as charismatic technology—something that under-delivers on what it...
Local Optimizations Don't Lead to Global Optimums I like to think that I write code deliberately. I’m an admittedly slow developer, and I want to...
18th Nov 2024
106

Local Optimizations Don't Lead to Global Optimums

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

18th Nov 2024
I like to think that I write code deliberately. I’m an admittedly slow developer, and I want to believe I do so on purpose. I want to know as much as I can about the context of what it is that I'm automating. I also use a limited set of tools. I used old computers for a long...
Carrots, sticks, and making things worse This blog post originally appeared on the LFI blog but I decided to post it on my own as well. Every...
3rd Oct 2024
87

Carrots, sticks, and making things worse

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

3rd Oct 2024
This blog post originally appeared on the LFI blog but I decided to post it on my own as well. Every organization has to contend with limits: scarcity of resources, people, attention, or funding, friction from scaling, inertia from previous code bases, or a quickly shifting...
My Blog Engine is the Erlang Build Tool From time to time, people ask me what I use to power my blog, maybe because they like the minimalist...
2nd Sep 2024
95

My Blog Engine is the Erlang Build Tool

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

2nd Sep 2024
From time to time, people ask me what I use to power my blog, maybe because they like the minimalist form it has. I tell them it’s a bad idea and that I use the Erlang compiler infrastructure for it, and they agree to look elsewhere. After launching my notes section, I had to...
The Review Is the Action Item 2024/05/30 The Review Is the Action Item I like to consider running an incident review to be its own...
30th May 2024
125

The Review Is the Action Item

from Ferd.ca [alt+shift+b] in programming

30th May 2024
2024/05/30 The Review Is the Action Item I like to consider running an incident review to be its own action item. Other follow-ups emerging from it are a plus, but the point is to learn from incidents, and the review gives room for that to happen. This is not surprising advice if...
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