Dispatches · Category

Strategy & History

Ancient strategy, historical patterns, and older ideas applied to modern software work.

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№ 037 Jun 2026

Roman Virtues for Engineering Leaders

Engineering leadership is tested under pressure. The old Roman virtues give us a useful language for the practical behaviors leaders need when the system gets hard.

Roman VirtuesLeadership
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№ 034 May 2026

The Stoic Engineering Leader

You inherited the codebase you inherited. Leadership starts when you stop being offended by reality and start improving what is within your practical grasp.

StoicismLegacy CodeLeadership
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№ 026 May 2026

The Art of Software Development

Good engineering strategy makes brute force unnecessary. Five lessons from Sun Tzu show how roadmaps, measurement, terrain, constraints, and systems turn struggling teams into predictable ones.

Ancient StrategySoftware Development
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№ 025 May 2026

Software Development Has Always Been Moving in One Direction

From assembly to compilers to frameworks to AI: software development keeps moving toward higher abstraction, faster feedback, and clearer intent.

Paradigm ShiftsAbstractionAI
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