IDEAS, DECISIONS & LESSONS

Journal

Notes on AI, architecture and building useful products.

878 articles

25 Feb 2026 · 7 min read

client-management

English for Tech Leads Part 3: Meeting Mastery

30 essential phrases, a meeting lifecycle framework, and practical techniques for surviving 2-hour client meetings without your brain shutting down.

25 Feb 2026 · 20 min read

api

Content Modeling That Marketers Actually Understand: Umbraco Document Types, Block Lists, and the Delivery API

Part 2 of 9 — Designing Umbraco document types for marketing websites, building a block-based page builder with Block List and Block Grid, and exposing everything through the Content Delivery API.

25 Feb 2026 · 8 min read

api

Tech Coffee Break #2: REST, GraphQL, gRPC — Which One Do I Pick?

Two tech leads break down API design styles using restaurant analogies. Learn when to use REST, GraphQL, or gRPC — explained in casual English perfect for listening practice.

24 Feb 2026 · 11 min read

architecture

Production Voice AI for Research at Scale: The Architecture Nobody Warns You About (Part 1 of 8)

Part 1 of 6 — Why research interviews need server-side voice agents, the three-tier architecture, room metadata as configuration transport, and the 100-500ms propagation latency nobody tells you about.

24 Feb 2026 · 8 min read

architecture

Tech Coffee Break #1: So... Why Did Everyone Split Their Apps?

A casual conversation about microservices vs monoliths. Two tech leads explain when to split, when to stay, and why most teams get it wrong — in plain English you can listen to and learn from.

24 Feb 2026 · 40 min read

architecture

Building KidSpark: Tech Stack Selection — Flutter, React Native, or Native? (Part 4 of 10)

Part 4 of 10 — The framework debate almost split the team. Flutter, React Native, or going fully native? Here's our decision matrix and what we learned comparing all three.

24 Feb 2026 · 21 min read

The Voice AI Interview Playbook: Knowledge Base and RAG — Making Your Voice Agent an Expert (Part 6 of 12)

Part 6 of 12 — Your voice interviewer is only as good as what it knows. Here's how to build a real-time RAG system that retrieves rubrics, job descriptions, and technical knowledge in under 50ms.

24 Feb 2026 · 16 min read

architecture

Building a Marketing Website Template with Umbraco 17 & Next.js: Why This Architecture and How to Set It Up

Part 1 of 9 — Why headless Umbraco 17 with Next.js is the sweet spot for reusable marketing websites, the architecture decisions behind MarketingOS, and setting up both projects with Clean Architecture on .NET 10.

24 Feb 2026 · 7 min read

communication

English for Tech Leads Part 2: Pronunciation Survival Kit

The 50 most mispronounced tech words, Vietnamese-specific pronunciation traps, and a 10-minute daily drill that actually fixes your accent.