Engineering leader who writes about what actually works.
I build software, lead teams, and write about the gap between what technologies promise and what they deliver.
Latest Writing
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AI-Ready Data, From Talk to Book
This year, one idea about agents and data became two talks and an article. A third talk and a book chapter come next. Here is what changed at each step, so that you can pick the version that fits your time.
Engineer What Surrounds the Model
A coding agent has a model at its center and two rings around it. The vendor builds the inner ring. You build the outer ring, and a better model will not build it for you.
The Architect's Playbook for AI-Assisted Development
AI coding tools change what an architect does, not whether they're needed. Here is how to create the conditions where AI-generated code stays correct, safe, and architecturally sound.
Recent Talks
View all →Making Your Data Ready for Agentic AI
The full-length version of the talk. Four worked examples take data through a trusted foundation, a context layer, and an access layer, with observability alongside each layer. Co-presented with Pramod Sadalage.
Making Your Data Ready for Agentic AI
Making data infrastructure ready for AI agents. Data contracts, quarantines, medallion architecture, and traceability. Co-presented with Pramod Sadalage.
Your Problem Isn't the Monolith. It's the Data.
Architecture endures when teams align on data lifecycles, not just APIs. A walk through one company that built a disciplined monolith, then decomposed without trauma.
AI-Assisted Development: What Actually Works
Lessons from three real projects on where AI coding tools accelerate delivery — and where they just accelerate rework.
Graph-Powered Storyworlds
Using Neo4j to keep 1M+ word LitRPG epics coherent with AI — knowledge graphs as narrative immune systems.