Software Lead Weekly

Vibe Coding Is the Fast Fashion Industry of Software Engineering
5 minutes read.

"As code production cheapens, we should examine parallels in other industries and my mind automatically goes to fast fashion: cheaper production led to affordable but low-quality clothes that are cheaper to discard than reuse or even repair. [...] As data leaks and breaches increase, accredited providers or certified professionals will gain importance. And don't be confused, if a disaster happens the responsibility will always be on person, never the machine: AI will take all the credits and developers the blame." -- The beauty of technology (and software specifically) is that it's hard to imagine how things will look in a year, five years, and ten years. So sure, many more products will find their way to the market, built by non-engineers (that's a good thing!) to find a small niche to serve. We don't know, yet, how to compress the context we have into something LLM will be able to deal with and produce high-quality code and design in complex environments. Are we the ones holding it back, or is it the LLM that holds us? I tend to think it's the former, and that again is excellent news. Excellence (delivery, experience, resilience, etc.) will be worth more, and taste will help surge above the noise. Understand and deepen the fundamentals of why things work, and not only how to get them to work.

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Sounds Like You May Have AIHD
1 minutes read.

My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile on your face. Nerds are the best!

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How Drift Can Derail an Organization
7 minutes read.

Every company in this GenAI-era knows that the market is moving so quickly and in so many ways that they need to quickly adapt or be left behind. The timeless advice is to serve your customers as you imagine their future and watch their reactions to different possibilities you present them with. They might not tell you what they need (implementation), but they will show reactions if they find it appealing and why. "The brutal truth: It’s not about strategy, technology, or resources. Organizations fail because they fundamentally misunderstand what drives change — the human factor. While leaders obsess over digital tools, process improvements, and operational efficiency, they’re missing the most critical element: the psychological, behavioral, and cultural dynamics that actually determine whether transformation takes hold or crashes and burns."

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The Best Companies Are Dictatorships
4 minutes read.

"But let's be clear: benevolent dictatorships, not tyrannies. The difference matters. Tyrants crush spirits and hoard power. The best founders are unreasonable about product, deeply reasonable about people. They'll debate pixels for hours but also notice when someone's struggling. They demand excellence while building psychological safety. [...] People tell me I'm drawn to "tough" founders. The ones others find impossible, I find easy. These founders aren't difficult. They know exactly where they're going. Our job is to build the boat to get them there." -- Knowing yourself enough to understand where you can make a huge bet and let your uniqueness shine is a trait very few have. Important and honest post by Nikunj Kothari, one that we should consider when choosing our path.

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EM <> PM: A Song of Ice and Fire
6 minutes read.

I love the mini experimentation and iterations shared between product and engineering to find a better way to operate together: "We didn’t fix things with a grand re-org or a manifesto. We started small — with lightweight experiments that invited more trust and less ceremony. We learned to treat process itself like a product — always in beta, always open to iteration."

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Clear Thinking
5 minutes read.

"We learn by making mistakes and preventing the same mistakes in the future. Document the decision that you are making the best you can — write down all your thoughts and opinions. Don't rely on memory because you won't remember it clearly. When making decisions in teams, create a record that is clear to everyone so people can get back to previous decisions and understand them." -- Michał Poczwardowski shares a pragmatic framework you can try out to build the muscle of making better decisions over time.

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AI Is Polytheistic, Not Monotheistic
4 minutes read.

Balaji's take on AI is deep and insightful as only Balaji can: "AI is amplified intelligence, not artificial intelligence. Today’s AI is not truly agentic because it’s not truly independent of you. [...] That just means the smarter you are, the smarter the AI is. It’s really amplified intelligence, more than agentic intelligence."

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@ShaneAParrish: So much advantage in life comes from being willing to look like an idiot in the short term.

@thejustinwelsh: Your parents mean well. But their advice is shaped by a world with pensions, gatekeepers, and safe jobs. Follow it now and you’ll play a game that no longer exists.