Making AI Practical and Practicable
Thoughts on making software for a living, and the companies who make money by dint of software.
Yesterday, July 24th 2025, was a Thursday, and I just couldn’t find my footing. Now, I know not being able to get the hang of Thursdays puts me in solid company, Arthur Dent seems like a mensch, but it’s not great to struggle your way through a workday. Much like…
If you’ve been alive in tech anytime in the past two years, you’ve been told, repeatedly, loudly, often by people who discovered prompt engineering five minutes ago, that large language models are here to revolutionize everything. Your job. Your team. Possibly civilization itself. This is not that article. Instead, I…
The AI gold rush has created a weird kind of pressure. If you’re not chasing the trend, you’re behind. If you ask hard questions, you’re a stick in the mud. If you jump in too fast? You might end up with a flashy prototype and no plan to support it.…
Let me put a flag in the sand. The documents that come out of research aren’t the value. The value is in building expertise in the researcher.
I read a lot. I read for pleasure, and I read for work. I read poetry, fiction, and graphic novels. I even read the occasional textbook on how laws around pornography give us a unique view into the changing social landscape of 19th century England. That one, by the way,…
I’d like to tell you that being a trans woman doesn’t impact my work. I’d like to tell you that it doesn’t impact my work, but I bump up against it every day. That might seem surprising. I’m a technical person. An Engineer! My whole value proposition is being a…
I love conferences. I love getting up and presenting. I love the chance to catch up with friends from different companies and different states. I love the opportunity to see new perspectives and learn new ideas. What I love most of all is how kind and respectful people are at…
