Field notes & essays

Engineering writing worth your time

In-depth, honest articles on custom software, CRM automation, HubSpot, integrations, and the judgement calls in between — written from real work, not summaries.

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LatestTechnical Consulting

What "Maintainable Code" Actually Means (and Why It Saves You Money)

Every developer claims to write maintainable code, the way every restaurant claims fresh ingredients. Strip away the cliché and there's a hard financial idea underneath: maintainability is the price of every change you'll ever make.

8 July 2026 9 min read

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AI Engineering

If You Can't Measure It, You're Shipping Vibes — Evaluating LLM Features

Most teams ship AI features on gut feel — it looked good in a few tests, so it went live. Then a prompt tweak silently breaks something and nobody notices. Evaluation is what turns AI from a gamble into engineering.

30 Jun 2026 11 min read

Technical Consulting

The Quiet Advantages of Working With a Boutique Software Consultancy

Bigger isn't automatically better in software. Here's an honest look at what you gain — and what you actually give up — working with a senior-led boutique that scales through a trusted network, rather than a large agency.

24 Jun 2026 9 min read

HubSpot

Migrating to HubSpot Without Losing Your History

A CRM migration that arrives without its history is only half a migration. Field notes on bringing the past across intact — and on why the mapping, not the moving, is where the whole job actually lives.

10 Jun 2026 10 min read

Custom Software

Choosing a Database: Postgres, MySQL, Mongo, and When Each Fits

The database you pick early is one of the hardest things to change later. Here's a practical, non-dogmatic guide to matching the tool to the shape of your data.

27 May 2026 12 min read

Technical Consulting

Build, Buy, or Do Nothing: A Practical Guide to the Decision

Custom software is sometimes exactly right and sometimes an expensive mistake. Here's how to decide honestly — including when the answer is to build nothing, and why the best answer is usually a bit of both.

20 May 2026 11 min read

AI Engineering

Retrieval Is the Hard Part — Building RAG That Actually Works

Everyone can wire an LLM to a vector database in an afternoon. The gap between that demo and a system people trust is almost entirely in retrieval — and retrieval is where most RAG projects quietly fail.

20 May 2026 12 min read

Technical Consulting

How to Read a Codebase You've Just Inherited

Taking over software you didn't write is disorienting and easy to do badly. Field notes on understanding a system before you touch it — and on resisting the rewrite that feels so obviously right and so often isn't.

6 May 2026 10 min read

API Integrations

Webhooks vs Polling: Choosing How Your Systems Talk

Two systems need to stay in sync — do you push events or pull for changes? A practical guide to the trade-offs, and why the honest answer is often a bit of both.

29 Apr 2026 11 min read

15 articles