Insights
Practical thinking on business systems, automation and software built around the way organisations actually work.
Hiring fixes a permanent need, but most agency capacity problems are temporary. Here's how to tell the difference, and what white-label overflow development actually looks like in practice.
Excel's new ability to stack multiple values in one cell is handy for a quick view, but it repeats a data modelling mistake that causes real pain once a business depends on that spreadsheet.
"Clean code" is a style argument developers have with each other. What business owners should actually care about is whether the software is clear enough for someone else to pick up later.
A cache is meant to speed things up, not mix up your customers. Here's how personalised data ends up served to the wrong person, and what to check before it happens to you.
AI coding tools have made generating code fast. But speed only matters if what gets shipped actually works, and that's where the real bottleneck has moved to.
A system can pass every test with empty data and one user, then buckle on launch day. Here's why realistic performance testing matters and what it should cover.
A search box is one of the most requested, least specified features in any brief. Here's why the naive version breaks down and what real search actually needs.
Paying for something you can't see until it's finished is a real worry. Here's how I let clients watch a build take shape, and what to ask any developer about it.
A failed API call that retries too eagerly can knock over the very system it's trying to reach. Here's what a retry storm is and how sensible automation avoids one.
Got a problem worth solving properly?
Tell me what's slowing your business down. The first conversation is free and straightforward, and it's with me, not a salesperson.
Or email me at josh@thackr.co.uk
