IDEAS, DECISIONS & LESSONS

Journal

Notes on AI, architecture and building useful products.

904 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 · 11 min read

automation

From Manual Tester to Automation Engineer — The Mindset Shift

Why automation doesn't replace manual testers — it empowers them. A practical guide to shifting your mindset, leveraging your existing skills, and building a 90-day learning roadmap. Part 1 of the QC team's guide to automation with AI.

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.

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 · 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.

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 · 6 min read

ai-pair-programming

The AI Developer: From Ticket to PR in an AI-Augmented Workflow (Part 6 of 12)

Part 6 of 12 — The developer's inner loop in the AI era: AI-assisted ticket analysis, code planning, pair programming, test writing, documentation, and self-review — plus the human judgment that makes AI-generated code safe to ship.