MCPs: A Better Boundary Between Agents and Tools
Why the Model Context Protocol makes agent tools easier to advertise, simpler to integrate, and safer to operate.
technology / leadership / business reality
necessary eval
optimizing for outcomes.
selected notes
Cheaper, faster, Resilient Data Lakes
Practical, low-risk ways to reduce data warehouse costs while improving data quality, timeliness, and reliability.
Optimization in the Data Lake
When you’re optimizing a data lake, your only metrics are cost and time. You’re working with expensive clusters of worker machines, and can approximate cost as: 1 COST = NUMBER _ OF _ WORKERS * COST _ OF _ WORKERS * TIME Memory/CPU…
Why Engineers Love SCRUM Ceremonies
SCRUM ceremonies get a bad rap sometimes—too many meetings, not enough keyboards. But when they’re done right, they’re some of the most engineer-friendly rituals in modern software development. Each ceremony exists for a reason, and…
Terraform Secret Placement
Terraform has its strengths and its challenges. Of its strengths, Terraform gets you referential integrity, reproducability, and a rich set of clients with great documentation. One of its challenges includes keeping sensitive secrets out of…
Power Supplies for the Uninitiated
You’re choosing a power supply for a device, like a retro console. The device has defined requirements, often noted on the device by the plug. These requirements include: voltage, amperage, the plug’s size (see barrel plugs) AND the…
Know Your Binaries
It’s pretty hard to be clever if you’re an executable file. Understanding how your programming interpreter views the world can save you days of development time and release you from the perils of virtual environments. After you hand your…
Scripting Editors: It Doesn't Have to be VIM
Putting a pin in the text editor holy war – do you use VIM, or Emacs?! We may point out hipster tendencies by using these “way better” vintage technologies, but there is still extreme value here. What you’re missing out on is having…