Dan’s Substack

Sharing what I learn as I start a startup for the first time.

The hottest Substack posts of Dan’s Substack

And their main takeaways

Spec-Driven Development: From Vibe Coding to Structured Development

65 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Software Development Developer Tools Artificial Intelligence Software Architecture Payments Workflows
  1. Write a clear, versioned specification before asking an AI to implement a feature so the AI has a single source of truth and won’t make inconsistent architectural or security choices.
  2. Use purpose-built SDD tooling that fits your workflow and codebase; tools that produce spec deltas, a living spec, and an auditable archive make it easy to resume, verify, and evolve work.
  3. SDD reduces rework and improves cross-role review, but it has costs — don’t use it for trivial fixes or pure prototyping, keep specs lean, and watch for spec bloat, drift, and review fatigue.

It's a Great Time to be a Software Engineer

130 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Software AI Engineering Tools Architecture Productivity
  1. Embrace AI as a core tool — it makes you a faster, more effective engineer and not using it will leave you behind.
  2. Shift your focus from typing code to higher-level software and product decisions like architecture, design principles, and trade-offs, because human judgment matters more than implementation now.
  3. Invest in better workflows: manage context and memory, use multi-agent tools for reviews and refactoring, keep tests and documentation current, and choose models by cost and complexity.

DORA: AI boosting productivity, hindering delivery

65 implied HN points • 22 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Software Productivity Development Innovation
  1. AI is making developers more productive, but it's also slowing down software delivery. This means while developers can code faster, it doesn't always translate to quicker releases.
  2. Larger changes in software deployment can be riskier and slower. It's often better to make smaller changes that are easier to manage.
  3. The speed of AI adoption might be leading to short-term delivery issues, but organizations might eventually find better ways to balance productivity and delivery as they adapt.
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5 Story Mapping Anti-Patterns

1 HN point • 21 Apr 22
  1. Create story maps with the full team present.
  2. Focus on users and their interactions, not just hierarchical work breakdown structures.
  3. Cut releases to deliver high value work incrementally.

A Short Analysis of an Analysis: YouTube Trending Videos

0 implied HN points • 11 Jul 20
  1. People try to understand algorithms like Google's search rankings by observing their output based on inputs.
  2. Strategies like using tags and video titles help videos trend on YouTube.
  3. The real key to trending videos is likely high engagement within a time period.

Mining for Side-Effects in Complex Adaptive Systems

0 implied HN points • 06 Jul 20
  1. In complex systems, we can't predict all outcomes of our actions.
  2. Confirmation bias can lead us to overlook unintended consequences.
  3. Unintended results can lead to innovative practices through exaptation.

Compliance Metrics

0 implied HN points • 01 Jul 20
  1. People often blindly follow metrics in a framework, losing sight of the framework's true purpose.
  2. Metrics like velocity or throughput may not accurately measure value delivered to customers.
  3. Frameworks like GAAP create shared understanding, unlike software industry metrics that have high variability.

Women's Rights in Islam

0 implied HN points • 29 Jun 20
  1. Islam emphasizes equal rights for women and men.
  2. Historically, Islam elevated the role of women in society.
  3. Islam provides women with access and rights to abortion ahead of its time.

List of Coaching Questions

0 implied HN points • 15 Sep 19
  1. Coaching questions can help you look inward and set meaningful goals.
  2. Thinking big and going for breakthroughs can lead to success.
  3. Consider if problems require structural solutions, not just administrative ones.

Embedding quality in software through slack

0 implied HN points • 25 Jul 19
  1. Allocate time for inspecting and adapting code to improve quality.
  2. Create slack in schedules to ensure continuous improvement of software increment.
  3. Professional programmers must prioritize the quality of their work over speed of delivery.

Impactful Refactorings: Replace Conditional with Polymorphism

0 implied HN points • 23 Jul 19
  1. Conditionals in code can be refactored into polymorphic behavior for better maintainability.
  2. Applying the Strategy and Template Method design patterns can simplify complex algorithms and improve code structure.
  3. Refactoring procedural code into object-oriented code not only improves functionality but also forces better naming conventions based on domain knowledge.

Drawbacks of Pull Request Reviews

0 implied HN points • 01 Feb 19
  1. Pull request reviews can be inefficient due to asynchronous feedback and lack of real-time communication.
  2. Reviewing code through a browser interface may hide the holistic context of the changes and lead to blind approvals.
  3. Large pull requests can lead to fatigue and lower quality reviews, emphasizing the importance of limiting the size of PRs.

Prototyping can get in the way of software delivery

0 implied HN points • 25 Jan 19
  1. Prototyping can hinder software delivery timelines.
  2. Design should drive research and inform product decisions.
  3. End-users can directly design the interaction for better results.

A Theory of User Story Sizing

0 implied HN points • 13 Aug 18
  1. Creating small user stories is desirable for easier estimation and early value delivery.
  2. When deciding on user story size, consider transaction cost and holding cost.
  3. Focus on reducing transaction costs through automation for more efficient feature development.

A Model for Measuring Productivity

0 implied HN points • 16 Dec 17
  1. Productivity is output divided by inputs; varies based on context.
  2. Being dangerously unproductive is worse than being unproductive.
  3. Skill, laziness, and responsibility play roles in measuring productivity.

Giving Enterprise Innovation a Fighting Chance

0 implied HN points • 01 Dec 17
  1. Organizations need to clearly communicate the biggest challenges to focus on for innovation.
  2. Having a clear innovation strategy that aligns with the business model helps employees understand their role in innovation efforts.
  3. Providing coaching and facilitation services to teams can significantly improve the quality of innovative ideas.

Giving Enterprise Innovation a Fighting Chance

0 implied HN points • 01 Dec 17
  1. Organizations need innovation for long-term survival and competitiveness.
  2. Leaders should clearly communicate the company's biggest challenges to focus innovation efforts.
  3. Offer coaching and support to teams to enhance idea generation and innovation outcomes.

Improving architecture decision velocity

0 implied HN points • 18 Nov 17
  1. Good software architectures emerge over time, not just from initial UML diagrams.
  2. Decision velocity is crucial for teams, reflecting how well the architecture group functions.
  3. Architects need to make timely decisions considering wider enterprise impact and embrace innovation.

We must recognize unplanned work

0 implied HN points • 05 Nov 17
  1. Recognize unplanned work as a significant problem.
  2. Measure how much time is spent on unplanned work.
  3. Consider how process improvements can help reduce unplanned work.

Let's retire Agile

0 implied HN points • 03 Jun 15
  1. Agile and Agile are not the same - one is about common sense, the other a rigid process.
  2. Many organizations use Agile as a quick fix without addressing deep-rooted issues.
  3. To truly be effective, focus on honesty, common sense, and real change instead of just following a methodology.

Monday January 01, 2001

0 implied HN points • 01 Jan 01
  1. The author is a software engineer and coach focusing on continuous delivery.
  2. The author can be found on Twitter, Github, and has a Continuous Delivery Podcast.
  3. To email the author, decode text in the provided website's first textbox.

UI Tests: The Illusion of Quality at the Cost of Quality

0 implied HN points • 09 May 22
  1. UI-based tests can be slow and brittle, leading to testing inefficiencies.
  2. UI tests often do not cover enough combinations, overlooking potential bugs in interconnected components.
  3. Collaboration between QA and developers on creating comprehensive unit tests can improve testing quality and efficiency.

Simple Practices to Improve Software Development Teams

0 implied HN points • 08 Dec 21
  1. QA tests should be based on developer's work to reduce defects
  2. Thoroughly discuss how a story will be tested during planning
  3. Reduce testing column queue sizes to get feedback earlier

Using Gherkin for Acceptance Criteria

0 implied HN points • 25 Aug 21
  1. Using Gherkin for acceptance criteria can help define requirements clearly.
  2. Gherkin allows for layering complex business rules into workflow scenarios.
  3. Even if developers don't use Gherkin for tests, having requirements in this format guides them on what tests to write.

Avoiding Duplication in State Management

0 implied HN points • 04 May 21
  1. Don't duplicate state in your code to keep things simpler and easier to maintain.
  2. Use a single source of truth for your state to avoid confusion.
  3. Consider storing state in a separate entity, like a store, to keep your code clean and organized.

Evaluating Metrics

0 implied HN points • 31 Mar 21
  1. If you don't know how to respond to a metric, don't measure it.
  2. Consider if the effort to create a metric is worth the opportunity cost.
  3. Ensure metrics measure outcome over output and incentivize right behaviors.

Shock Doctrine

0 implied HN points • 26 Mar 21
  1. Drastic changes are more easily implemented during times of shock and vulnerability.
  2. Ideologues are prepared with ideas to push for change during these vulnerable periods.
  3. Unchecked capitalism in times of crisis can lead to policies that benefit only a few, resulting in generational poverty.

Waiting for a Crisis

0 implied HN points • 09 Mar 21
  1. Crises can lead to real change by making existing policies seem inadequate.
  2. Suspending constraints during a crisis opens the door for new ideas and policies.
  3. Having ideas ready to implement in special environments can fuel innovation.

On Estimation

0 implied HN points • 26 Feb 21
  1. Estimation helps generate discussion and alignment within the team on work complexity.
  2. Capacity planning and forecasting are often misused and can be harmful.
  3. Predictability may have cultural and economic costs, consider alternatives like analyzing Cycle Time and Throughput.

Architectural Tension

0 implied HN points • 18 Nov 20
  1. If making something reusable, also make it independently releasable.
  2. Group together things that change for the same reason; keep apart if different.
  3. Don't depend on things you don't need to minimize costs and dependencies.

Dissonance of Using Functional Concepts in Non-functional Stacks

0 implied HN points • 02 Nov 20
  1. Using pure functions makes it easier to test software and can lead to higher quality code.
  2. Balancing data modeling, behavior, and side-effect free code in classes can be challenging.
  3. Applying functional programming concepts in non-functional environments may require workarounds and adaptations.

The Definition of News Has Been Legally Changed

0 implied HN points • 30 Sep 20
  1. Legally, news sources are not required to present truths anymore, the audience must verify the information.
  2. Viewers are now expected to be skeptical and filter out lies from news broadcasts.
  3. The blurring line between talk shows and news programs allows for easy repackaging of lies without accountability.

TDSB Survey Results Can Be Misleading

0 implied HN points • 23 Aug 20
  1. Data-driven decisions can go wrong if data collection methods are faulty.
  2. Survey results showed a difference in parent preferences affecting school planning.
  3. Using proxy metrics can provide more accurate insights than direct questions in surveys.

Serverless Architectures and Storing First

0 implied HN points • 03 Jul 20
  1. Serverless architectures reduce user wait time by storing information on disk and processing it later.
  2. Architectural complexity increases in serverless architectures due to processing split in smaller functions, compared to monoliths.
  3. Using a serverless architecture is influenced by application diversity, with more diverse applications leading to increased complexity and potential failures.

Autonomy, Maturity and Chaos

0 implied HN points • 02 Jul 20
  1. Decision-making relies on evidence, experience, advice, and intuition.
  2. Autonomous teams need both autonomy and maturity to function effectively.
  3. Autonomy without maturity can lead to chaos unless the team can handle it for a long time.

Dissorienting Dilemma

0 implied HN points • 29 Jun 20
  1. Disorienting dilemmas force you to reconsider your core assumptions and beliefs when faced with experiences that do not align with your worldview.
  2. These dilemmas require you to construct a new worldview and alter any assumptions that were built on your previous beliefs.
  3. Personal growth often occurs through experiencing disorientation multiple times and embracing the learning that comes from these challenges.