We Got the Speed We Begged For. Now We Hate the Results
AI isn’t soulless. It mirrors us. We asked for speed and got it, then blamed the tool when craft felt thin. The tool is not the skill. The driver is. Bring taste, patience, and judgment, and the work lives. Want meaning? Pay the price in effort. The rest is on us.
The Illusion of 100% Test Coverage
I've watched teams chase 100% and still ship bugs. Coverage proves code ran, not that it worked. Real safety comes from assertions that bite, weird inputs, mutation tests, and tough reviews. Treat coverage as a flashlight, not a finish line.
Why Software Development Gets Harder in Teams
Teams don’t stall from code alone. They stall when dominance grows, speed turns to sugar, and harmony goes quiet. The fix is candor, shared ownership, and steady refactors before the floor gives way.
The Tyranny of Tiny Modules
Modularity is not a numbers game. A 300-line component with a clean flow beats ten shallow ones across folders. Barrels bloat bundles and hide cycles. Write for brains, not style cops: minimize hops, keep related logic close, abstract when it’s earned.
Stories that Bind Millions
Humans rule by shared stories, not strength. Myths turn strangers into allies, money into trust, brands into tribes. When fiction outruns fact, harm follows. Learn narrative literacy: test tales, ask who benefits, and rewrite the script when truth and compassion demand it.
Cutting Redundant Data Fetches with React’s `cache` in React 19
React 19’s cache memoizes server calls per request. Wrap a fetch or DB query, call it from multiple server components, and React runs it once. Fewer duplicate hits, faster pages, consistent data. The cache clears after render. Use it in Next.js 15 with RSC.
The Nights My 7-Year-Old Debugged Me
Great code often looks like novice code that simply works. Do not drown juniors in rules. Let them ship, then refactor side by side. Teach the why after the pain shows up. Mentorship over policing. Progress over perfection.
The Small Group That Holds You Back
You are not performing for the world. You are performing for five loud voices in your head. Most people are not watching. Choose your advisors on purpose, expect to be misunderstood, and ship anyway. The only approval you need to live with is your own.
The Real Bug Is in Your Brain
The hardest bugs are not in your repo but in your reasoning. Confirmation, optimism, anchoring, availability, and Dunning-Kruger warp decisions. Fight back with disconfirming tests, independent estimates, broader hypotheses, and KISS. Debug your mind first.
Row the Boat, Don’t Win the Argument
Teams do not need a courtroom champion. They need builders who move the boat. Trade point-scoring for impact. Ask what problem we are solving, pick battles that matter, invite dissent, and share credit. Do not aim to be right. Aim to be valuable.
TypeScript Soup: Taming an Unruly API
One tiny helper, big payoff. Use template literal types to infer base fields from `nameFr` style keys, then `getLocalized(locale, obj, fields)` returns exactly what you asked for. No copy-paste, no string concat, typos blocked, locales centralized, fallbacks handled.
