Claude code, Github, and Obsidian editor are my goto document management solution. Having great success producing deep and broad analysis quickly using these tools where we have to work from outlines, capture notes, understand and process a lot of written context.

Claude code, perhaps because of its instructions and execution logic to reduce token usage, declares premature victory. You need to have transparency into its plan so you can interrogate any claim of completeness 🎉. “What about…” Also, check back on the goal. “Does this…”

My learning mindset is driven by humility about my depth of understanding, which extends borderlessly into self-reproach. They are an inseparable essence. One gift.

Crossing the entire length of a train station to dispose of my cup in the same shop I purchased the coffee because intruding into a restaurant I haven’t bought something at feels wrong and due to darker moments in recent history there are almost no public trash cans.

It’s a privilege to take time away from paid labor. Uncommon in history. Not common enough in our time. Something our parents fought for. Something under threat as the powerful reset the definition of work. The first aspect of a vacation to be grateful for is vacation itself.

My mom’s tradition was to serve unagi (eel) on rice on the hottest day of the year. So, whatever summer day we had it she willed to be the hottest day. Japanese women have that force of will. At least, my mom did.

What’s a more appropriate arrival in Tokyo than making my way from Haneda airport on a crowded train with a stranger falling asleep on my shoulder.

“Please check carry on items for fire arms before approaching the checkpoint…” — JFK announcement

If large language models don’t improve in reasoning, there’s plenty of improvement to be gained in more precise context, additional tooling, reduced computes, increased privacy, local operation, permissively and ethically sourced training data, access, and our fluency using them.

The average US male lives to 75. The average US software developer is under 40 — tailing well off by my age. But I am not average. No human is. While much is out of my control. Some is. So, I strive to keep learning, accomplish interesting things, stay grateful, and embrace hope.

We're letting hype compromise our professional integrity. AI makes devs feel productive, but data shows 10x increase in duplicated code, copy/paste exceeding refactoring for first time. I'm proposing a PDCA framework to wrangle AI away from debt generator: https://t.co/382qiT38jP

My post proposing a structured plan-do-check-act prompting cycle in code generation was featured in the agile alliance newsletter.

Can AI help you write good code, not just more code? Data says using AI as we currently do will lead to maintenance hell. I'm proposing a structured approach: Plan with AI analysis, Do with oversight, Check for completeness, Act on learnings.

Another helpful eyechart of the AI landscape (joke)

Frontier models convince you they are correct and that you are brilliant for the same reason a dog conveys that it loves you. Adaptation and training. The main difference is that a dog can be sincere. An AI model at the most fundamental level doesn't care.

There is no source of human suffering so far gone that human fallibility can't resurrect it.

Remember what Harry Frankfurt wrote… bull—-t isn’t lying. It is prioritizing the effect of what you say over its truth. To put it another way, AI doesn’t lie. People do. But both bull—t.

Trying to complete my code gen cycles on a of a story or task within a story to fit in 1-3 hours. This entails a full pdca loop of analysis, planning, tdd, completion check, and retro. Works much better for both the model and me.

Someone with one system of record always knows which unreality is truth. Someone with two systems is never quite sure.

We have some agreement over what it is to be nice. Less over what it is to be kind. Even less over what it is to be good. But by far our widest disagreement is whether to embody any of them in any particular action we take that affects others.