Weekly Reflection #36 - T-shaped skills
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) The T-shaped pattern has been around since the…
rojoroboto Newsletter
Practical insights on platform engineering, developer experience, and building teams that ship.
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Weekly Reflection #35 - Two-way Doors
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) It's well known in our industry that we should favor…
Weekly Reflection #34 - Automation and toil
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) I've been working with someone recently, migrating a…
Weekly Reflection #33 - On Zero Token Architecture
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) At PlatformCon 2026, Kelsey Hightower gave a talk…
Weekly Reflection #32 - Fear is a Diagnostic Signal
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) This week on Book Overflow, Pramod Sadalage came on…
Weekly Reflection #31 - Do Less with Less
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Years ago, I was working at a company that cut head…
Weekly Reflection #30 - Think Before You Debug
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) My favorite debugging story comes from Rob Pike when…
Weekly Reflection #29 - Be the Rubber Duck
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) I love solving problems. So when someone brings me…
Weekly Reflection #28 - Gratitude Reset
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) My wife just got back from a week-long surf trip on…
Weekly Reflection #27 - Delete, Delete, Delete
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) A great design is easily hidden by unnecessary…
Weekly Reflection #26 - Deceptively Simple
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) I spend a lot of time writing design documents for…
Weekly Reflection #25 - Filling up the Tank
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Every Sunday, I fill up the gas tank on our little…
Weekly Reflection #24 - Conceptual Integrity
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) I have to come clean. I've been putting off one of…
Weekly Reflection #23 - Heartbeats and Handcuffs
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Tony Fadell tells a story in his book, Build, about…
Weekly Reflection #22 - Always Start With an Empty Bar
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) No matter how much weight I can lift, I always start…
Weekly Reflection #21 - Katas and Software Architecture
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Martial artists have been practicing katas for…
Weekly Reflection #20 - Play and Rigor
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Claude Shannon juggled in the hallways of Bell Labs.…
Weekly Reflection #19 - Design for Evolution
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Things change. Requirements change. Teams change. And…
Weekly Reflection #18 - Ship with Confidence (For real, this time)
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) After 18 years in tech, I've come to a realization…
Weekly Reflection #17 - Trust Chains
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) This week LiteLLM, the most popular open-source LLM…
Weekly Reflection #16 - crafting strategy
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) In Will Larson's book, Crafting Engineering Strategy,…
Weekly Reflection #15 - Surfing Change
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) It is easy to treat Change Management as a means of…
Weekly Reflection #14 - Testing Assumptions
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Platform engineering boils down to consistently…
Weekly Reflection #13 - An Illusionist is not a Sorcerer
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) An illusionist is not a sorcerer. While pulling a…
Weekly Reflection #12 - Mindfulness is a superpower
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Mindfulness is a superpower. Cultivate it. It's easy…
Weekly Reflection #11 - Intuition and Experimentation
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) The feedback loop between intuition and…
Weekly Reflection #10 - Be Successful on Purpose
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Sam Barlien highlighted this stat from the State of…
Weekly Reflection #9 - Deliberate Effort and FOMO
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) We, as builders and software engineers, are here to…
Weekly Reflection #8 - Mushin and Spontaneity
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Most things in life are out of our control. This is…
Weekly Reflection #7 - Simple Systems
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Protect the simplicity of your foundational systems.…
Weekly Reflection #6 - Attention and Feedback Loops
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Our attention is precious. It is a finite resource.…
Weekly Reflection #5 - Do Fewer Things More Meaningfully
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) The pressure to ship faster has never been higher. AI…
Weekly Reflection #4 - Learning, Experimentation, and Beginner's Mind
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) A healthy culture of learning and experimentation is…
Weekly Reflection #3 - AI, Curiosity, and What Won't Change
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) It's easy to dismiss new tools. It's just as easy to…
Weekly Reflection #2 - Mental Shortcuts and Sensible Defaults
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) Mental shortcuts can be wonderful. They are so…
Weekly Reflection #1 - Simplicity, Complexity, and Design
Each week, I share one insight. One piece of wisdom. One question to reflect on. (and a little Lagniappe) I've never seen a codebase accidentally get simpler.…