Notes
Notes on the work and everything around it
Short pieces written while the thing was still fresh. Some are about servers, some about discipline and attention, and they keep turning out to be the same subject.
12 Aug 2026 It is never the plugin everyone blames The thing that broke and the thing that changed are rarely the same thing. Incidents 6 Aug 2026 The model is fast, fluent and sure, and that is the problem It is excellent at the shape of an answer and indifferent to whether it is true. AI 3 Aug 2026 Caching is not a performance strategy A cache in front of a slow site is a slow site with better luck. Performance 24 Jul 2026 Your staging site is lying to you Different data, different traffic, different server. Same name. Practice 9 Jul 2026 Nobody reads the backup logs until they need them An untested backup is a feeling, not a file. Security 20 Jun 2026 Stores break on the busy day, for dull reasons Traffic does not break stores. Traffic plus one unindexed table does. Ecommerce 2 Jun 2026 How to inherit somebody else's site Change nothing for the first hour. Write down everything instead. Practice 17 May 2026 Design gets better when you have to run it Nothing improves your layout instincts like being on call for it. Design 15 May 2026 What pole training taught me about debugging One variable at a time, or you learn nothing. Practice 28 Apr 2026 Strength is boring, which is why it works Nobody gets stronger on the days that feel impressive. Discipline 11 Apr 2026 My attention is the only tool I own Everything else on my desk can be replaced by Tuesday. Attention 19 Mar 2026 On being visibly a beginner Both the studio and the terminal punish pretending. Growth 4 Feb 2026 The maintenance nobody claps for Backups, stretching, reading. Same category. Discipline