Notes from the workshop

What we learned building things, written up while it was still fresh. No thought leadership, no listicles.

Code review comments that are actually instructions

A vague review comment costs more time than it saves. We rewrote our review conventions around comments a junior engineer or an agent can act on directly.

EngineeringProcessQuality

Engineering · 5 min

15 May 2026

The day we spent in a warehouse before scoping anything

A build note on how an afternoon on a client's floor reshaped the scope of an inventory system before a requirements document existed.

Case studyScopingProcess

Case notes · 6 min

14 May 2026

What changed when we started versioning prompts

Prompts that live in application code get edited casually and rarely reviewed. Treating them like the rest of the codebase fixed both problems.

AIEngineeringProcess

AI · 5 min

13 May 2026

The tests we write before a refactor, not after

A refactor without a characterisation test is a rewrite with a reassuring name. The difference is entirely in what gets tested first.

TestingEngineeringQuality

Quality · 6 min

12 May 2026

A build note on offline-first, and what it actually costs

Offline support is usually quoted as a feature. It behaves more like a second product built alongside the first one.

Case studyEngineeringArchitecture

Case notes · 7 min

11 May 2026

Pairing with a model is not pairing with a person

The habits that make human pair programming work do not transfer directly to working alongside a coding agent, and pretending otherwise wastes both.

AIEngineeringProcess

AI · 6 min