Marcus by Marcus

AI works well when a task depends on visible local context.

AI made software production much cheaper.

Skills, hobbies, and relationships change based on the attention they receive.

Better AI tools changed the cost of code generation, but not the need for ownership.

AI can write code faster than I can, but heavy use has a hidden cost.

Small individual efforts can produce a much larger shared result when each person does their part.

Skill grows from preparation guided by a clear standard.

One person starts before understanding the risk.

Organizations should compare meaningful output with the resources used to produce it.

Communication tools have different strengths.

One-on-one meetings work best when managers use them to build trust, follow through on concerns, and give reports a safe place to speak directly.

Asking for a software estimate before understanding the work is like asking someone to sort a sealed box.

Meeting Signal Ratio is the share of a meeting that is useful to each attendee.

In software projects, many factors can overshadow the goal of keeping things simple.

A business idea has little value without the ability to execute it.

Businesses need plans, but software progress is difficult to predict.

Over the years I've seen a lot of confusion around Waterfall and Agile approaches.

'Best practice' is widely used and accepted as describing the optimal solution.

A solution can be poor for the system and rational for the person choosing it.

I use software engineer and product engineer to describe two ways of working.

def sum_list_for(nums): total = 0 for num in nums: total += num return total # vs def sum_list_while(nums): total, i = 0, 0 while i < len(nums): tota...

Many software developers believe that programming is primarily focused on problem solving.

A process can be useful by itself and still make a team less effective when combined with every other process.

I keep one running note for each day.

Recently I've been thinking a lot about how to consume information more efficiently.

Consider whether you really need the meeting or whether a message or e-mail would be more appropriate.

Work streams should always be ranked, so there is no ambiguity about priorities.

Manage your own anxiety before you start managing other people.

Our team reduced a broad discussion about maintainable software to two principles: minimize complexity and optimize for readability.

I usually have enough time to work toward my goals.