The Strangler Fig Pattern: Rebuild Everything, without losing your mind
When your prototype becomes the product your business depends on, you can't just start over. Here's how the Strangler Fig pattern let us rebuild safely.
Mike Bifulco
Resources for modern software designers and developers. Tips and walkthroughs on using developer tools like React, node, and javascript.
Latest posts
Cognitive Debt and the Cost of Staying Wrong
Being wrong is unavoidable. The real damage comes from allowing a bad assumption to shape everything you build on top of it.
You are not your user. Except when you are.
"You are not your user" is fundamentally good advice. It's also occasionally wrong, but in a very useful way.
CSS Tips Part 2 - text-wrap: pretty will make your text feel intentional
Go beyond balance. Learn how text-wrap: pretty improves readability, reduces awkward breaks, and makes your UI feel more polished.
Dunning-Kruger for Vibe Coders
The first thing AI teaches you about coding is confidence. The second is why that's a problem. Let's talk about the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Lessons I Learned the Hard Way
Your brain rewires itself based on what you practice. If you stop practicing hard things, you slowly lose the ability to do them.
Learn to Love the Rebuild
Refactoring isn't a necessary evil -- it is the job. Why the best product teams rebuild constantly, at every scale.
Just Enough Is an Ongoing Practice
Stable products still need maintenance. Defaults and shiny features quietly tax systems over time, and efficiency is a sign of craftsmanship, not penny-pinching.
Optimizing Your Next.js Site's Fast Origin Transfer and ISR Reads
Next.js Link prefetching quietly burned through 15 GB of bandwidth on my Vercel-hosted blog. Here's how I fixed it.
My 2026 Developer Tech Stack
The tools I use as CTO and product engineer at a Y Combinator-backed startup in 2026.
The Zeroth Loop: They Don't Quit, They Forget
Most habits don't fall apart because people quit. They fall apart because they aren't sticky.
Science-Backed Secrets of Long, Happy Lives
A guide to the habits of high longevity people.
The Science of Spotting Hidden Product Ideas
The best product ideas hide in plain sight, in your habits and everyone else's. Watch what people actually do, not what they say they want. Build for that.
The Psychology Hack Hiding in Great Products
Every message is a moment of influence. Make the nudge helpful and you'll create power users and build loyalty.
Patching NPM Dependencies with pnpm patch
Learn how to patch NPM dependencies with pnpm patch to fix issues with your project.
Contributing to Open Source without being a Jerk
Open source doesn't work without good faith - and sometimes you need to patch a dependency to do your part.
The next great engineering skill is not coding
You have likely ignored it your entire career. That stops now - it's time to hone your writing skills.
AI and the New Language of Human-Centered Design
Software has always required people to think like a computer. AI flips it on its head: people expect computers to work the way they think.
Dieter Rams 10 Principles of Design
Good design is good design, no matter what you're building.
Beyond Click Counts: Finding the Right Signals for Good Design
Click counts are noise. Real design success is measured in signals that show whether people actually achieved what they came to do.
Stop Counting Clicks
Too many clicks isn't the problem. It's a signal that your design isn't successful.
Founder Math: When to Stop Searching and Start Choosing with the 37% Rule
How do you know when to stop searching and just choose? A classic bit of math offers a simple rule.
You Built It. They Didn’t Come.
My first launch failed. Years later, we sold the product - but it didn’t have to be that hard. Here’s what I’d do differently today.
Beyond ✨Shiny✨ Degrees: World-changing innovations from unexpected places
Public investments in education and research are a no-brainer, and these examples of game-changing innovations that came from "low value" fields of study tell you why.
What Everyone Gets Wrong About Vibe Coding
Vibe coding tools like Cursor, Copilot, and Claude aren’t just about speed—they’re an opportunity to code smarter and learn faster. Here’s how I use them to sharpen my skills as an engineer.
The Quiet Room Problem
The same psychological forces that keep people silent in moments of crisis also show up in product development - when no one questions a flawed idea, chases hard truths in the data, or speaks up for the little guy.
Eraser or the Wrecking Ball? Planning is everything
The product development process is a virtuous cycle, and has a direct impact on how well your work gets done. It will also help your teammates to understand the work ahead, and to build better products harmoniously.
Open Source your learning with GitHub
Open source is an open invitation to plug into a global braintrust of brilliant people building the future. What you get out of it has a lot to do with what you put in.
AI Prompt Secrets - what the leaks tell us
Popular AI tools like Claude, v0, and Cursor can be coaxed into revealing their prompts. Here's what I learned from a deep dive into some of the most successful prompts in the world.
I want to feel the hand of the f%#king creator
It's not divine intervention; it's just someone who did a damn good job.
Serendipity isn't an accident
Career opportunities don't "just happen" - they come from staying connected, helping others generously, and trusting your instincts when the right path shows up.
Freedom is a Feature: why competition is a good thing
Why freedom and openness in software matter more than ever. How MCP, OpenAI, and Apple’s AI fumble show that trust is built on interoperability.
What to do when the bottom falls out
A realist's guide to flattening out unexpected downturns
Tools I Love - Resend and React Email
The best developer tools make you faster and make you look good. Resend does both - for email, of all things.
The 3 Mistakes New Creators Make
Most new creators stall before they start. Avoid these 3 common mistakes - and learn where to focus instead. Create. Publish. Share.
Steal these ideas to build new products
Pouring through an extensive list of publicly accessible APIs to find new ideas for your next product.
Your MVP is too damn big
Your first product version needs to be smaller than you think. Much smaller. Probably embarrassingly small.
Design's Shakespearean Curse: Good UX Should Never Be Noticed
The best UX design goes unnoticed. Learn how invisible design shapes digital experiences, and why great designers embrace the paradox of their work going unseen.
AI is your intern (not your boss)
Learn how to steer AI tools like Copilot and Cursor, avoid mistakes, and write better tests to ship reliable code.
How I (Think I) Talk to AI
How to talk to AI (the right way). Learn how to give better prompts, refine outputs, and use LLMs effectively-without losing your own voice.
How Clever Engineers Stay Ahead of the Curve
Smart engineers always seem to know what's coming next. They do this by staying attuned to various signals from diverse sources.
My 2025 Developer Tech Stack
A list of the tools and tech I use as a professional product engineer in 2025.
Focus Mode for the Defiant
How free will fuels creativity, and how to stay on task with purpose.
Superfounder Superpowers: Sending Introductions
A guide to help you send introductions to your network.
The Great Inbox Reset
A guide to help you reset your inbox, get a free productivity boost, and do better work.
Themes Beat Resolutions Every Time
Reflection fuels growth. The coming year is your chance to make meaningful changes to your work, life, and relationships.
CSS Tips - text-wrap:balance will make your sites feel better
Improve readability with text-wrap: balance. Learn how this simple CSS property creates visually balanced text for better user experience and design polish.
Content creation workflow: my writing process
Learn how I write and publish content on my Next.js site using Markdown and MDX, and a custom content creation workflow.
Get lost in your work: the magic of flow state
Flow state is a mental space where deep focus and creativity come together, allowing you to work more effectively and productively.
From 21 to 1000 - Lessons in Growth
What I learned from growing Tiny Improvements to 1000 readers