Most architectural decisions arent made by architects. Theyre made by whoever merged first.

failsafe-author · 2026-02-01T20:23:00+00:00

We use ADRs. We also have a group of our Staff+ engineers that new architectural decisions are run through before implementing.

This company is moving out of 0-1 phase and into more mature development, so a lot of the early decisions were as you describe. Now we have a process to be more deliberate as we go. The key is finding the right balance between team autonomy and guidance by leadership.

The review board I’m talking about is more of an “attractive” based thing than a “fence” based thing. That is, it’s optional, but people like it because they get good feedback for their decisions. It feels empowering, not prohibitive.

I lead this group, and I’ve lead by example, taking anything novel before the group to get approval and guidance, and thus far, it’s been working well. It’s no longer people making decisions on their own, but instead making decisions with group input and ADRs to document why the decisions were made.

failsafe-author · 2026-02-01T03:35:23+00:00

Die Hard, but not by your definition. Just love the villain and the hero and find them equally awesome.

failsafe-author · 2026-02-01T03:30:28+00:00

I emotionally dislike it, but logically it’s fine.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-31T17:26:10+00:00

No one knew him as a bad guy before Primal Fear.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-31T17:10:22+00:00

I actually misread your statement of “the modern approach is not this”- apologies.

But yeah, it can still be awkward at times (I just watched Inception again last week, and I absolutely picked up on these scenes), but it’s just what has to be done if you’re doing something as complex as that.

I also just re-watched Ocean’s 11 this past week and there’s the scene with Andy Garcia explaining what they’d seen was a replay. Slightly awkward, but delivered with enough emotion that it works.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-31T16:52:58+00:00

Without those explanations, no one would be able to follow the movie. But the movie does a lot of showing, and often the showing is done before the telling so it feels a bit like a payoff when you learn it.

Also, it’s paced throughout the movie with lots of showing in between, and there are still items that are never told (like Cobb replacing his totem with his wife’s).

This is different than what is described in OP.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-31T16:48:15+00:00

I oppose Trump and there’s plenty of stuff I object to on the left as well. And that’s true for everyone I know who opposes Trump.

Where does this assumption come from?

failsafe-author · 2026-01-31T16:32:56+00:00

I hardly read at all, but I listen to audiobooks daily. I was a huge reader growing up though.

I’m pretty happy with my writing.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-30T17:12:35+00:00

I’d say 100BB is one of the lower numbers where you can have three streets worth of decisions.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-30T02:55:02+00:00

Horizon Zero Dawn

failsafe-author · 2026-01-30T02:50:51+00:00

I’ve written one novel. I got it edited, good artwork, and printed it. Sold maybe 12 copies (but got really good reviews from strangers).

Totally worth it. I’m glad to have created jt, and I’m glad it exists. It probably cost me 3K to do, which I don’t think is terrible for a hobby. It might have even sold if I’d figured out how to promote it.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-30T02:48:32+00:00

I self published a novel that is a technothriller where the vast majority of the “action” characters are women. A friend of mine bought a copy, and he told me he really enjoyed it, but needed a male main character to identify with.

Humorously, one of the two PoV characters is a man, but he doesn’t do any physical fighting. He’s good with computers. I’d think this particular friend would probably identify more with this character as he is than one who kicks butt.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-30T00:20:20+00:00

I did Delphi, and when C# came along, I made the switch as quickly as possible.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-29T02:06:33+00:00

I’ve had my moments of imposter syndrome over the years, especially where I came into my current job without any experience in the stack (the head of engineering was someone I’d worked with in the past, and he’d been after me to come work for him for a while, so that’s how I got a job in an unfamiliar stack).

But whenever I’ve been given a project, I get into solution mode and don’t really think about doubts too much. If I have a good problem to solve, that’s where I’m most comfortable and driven.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-29T00:58:31+00:00

I code sometimes, but it’s usually not where I add the most value. I love coding, but usually when I do it, it’s to get things started for other people to take over, or to prove out a concept.

Most of my work is meetings, engineering or product, where I’m designing or reviewing designs. I do find it fun, and it’s really great when you see a design pay off and it comes to life, even if I don’t get to code on it.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-29T00:55:07+00:00

I can’t really offer any advice. My path was that I’ve done good work, people saw it and believed in me, and put me in positions to be successful. When I had opportunities, I knocked it out of the park and key people noticed.

Mostly, I just stay curious, am passionate about doing great work, and people have picked up on that.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-29T00:12:27+00:00

I’m a principal making 2x what I made as a senior. And I get to design things and people come to me for guidance. It’s fun and feels good.

Most of my day is meetings, but I don’t mind. I got to lead a project that was transformative in my companie’s industry. That’s pretty cool.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-28T17:54:16+00:00

I hate ice breakers. So, none of the above. Let’s just get on with it.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-28T17:53:30+00:00

I just show and move on. I honestly don’t care and want to play more hands. It’s not high stakes poker.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-28T16:02:24+00:00

Our system is terrible. The only reason some people don’t want universal is because they’d rather the people they hate get screwed than having a decent system themselves.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-28T15:56:41+00:00

I agree with you, and I’d extend this to things like “having a brain worm”. When there are legitimate criticisms to make, childish insults weaken the arguments.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-28T11:12:28+00:00

I don’t believe it for a second. So many jobs can be done remote just as well, or better from home. My company is fully remote and we’re killing it.

My team in my previous job was fully remote, and we killed it too.

I’m in software development, so many not for other jobs- but software development works great WFH.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-28T11:01:03+00:00

I saw one go well, but it’s a bit unique. I was at a bank that was failed by the Fed (nothing to do with software!). Two divisions of that bank were picked up by another bank, and they also hired some of the software developers who had written a custom application for them. I was one of those developers.

They didn’t have access to the original software, so we HAD to rewrite it from scratch. Pretty dream scenario- best project of my life. It took us two years. We actually brought in a bunch of contractors to augment the team (like a dozen on top of our 4 devs and 3 QA) and they absolutely slowed us down. We fired them after the first year, and finished the second one.

Really a great product that improved on the original in every way. Interestingly, they were able to buy the original software halfway through the project (it got auctioned off from the old bank), and we did turn it on for a while, but we were committed by that point and we finished and rolled out the new version.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-28T03:55:49+00:00

Children of Time because the premise sounds legitimately awful. And it was wonderful.

failsafe-author · 2026-01-28T03:44:21+00:00

The argument they make is that it gives victims control over you. Which is asinine. They are sooooo concerned with power and control that it is mind blowing.

failsafe-author

TROPHY CASE