A database cost project that started as ‘move data to cheaper storage’ ended by eliminating the biggest dependency entirely, once the team stopped treating an existing implementation’s requirements as fixed and started asking what outcome each one actually served.
A whiteboard design and the system that ships from it are never the same thing. Revisiting a project well after handoff means reconstructing what actually shipped together, not grading it against the original diagram.
LLMs make it possible for one person to prototype several plausible end-to-end designs before a cross-team feasibility conversation starts, turning a blank whiteboard into a concrete comparison of trade-offs.
Rolling up team estimates for an ambitious cross-team project hides the architectural choices behind them. Real feasibility work means simulating how the pieces fit together before anyone estimates.
Leaving a comment every time something catches your eye feels like a thorough review, but it just hands the author a pile of reactions to organize. Here’s how to review like you’re helping drive a decision, not narrating your read.
Comment threads on a design doc create a false sense of progress. Real design review means treating comments as signals to synthesize into decisions, not a checklist to clear one thread at a time.
Software engineers are told to automate or be automated. But 150 years ago, the typewriter promised the same thing — and real adoption was gradual.