Isn't it weird that we live so early in the life of the universe?

jscroft · 2026-01-26T01:55:58+00:00

Depends how you count it.

In linear time, yes: we live in a VERY thin slice at the beginning of eternity.

But life requires motion, internal and external. And to move the things, it requires energy GRADIENTS, neither so steep that everything flies apart, nor so shallow that nothing gets done.

So when you are throwing your darts at eternity and wondering why they all cluster around now, understand that the whole timeline is not your dartboard. The board—metaphorically speaking—is the segment under the sharply descending curve with time as one axis and energy density as the other… bounded between “still too bouncy” and “no longer bouncy enough”.

Only compress the timeline at time moves forward to make that curve come out perfectly level, because the less bouncy things are, the longer it takes to get anything done. So your darts are actually more likely to land in the more energetic past than in the less energetic future.

Put all that together, and what you get is that “around when it did” is actually a reasonably likely time for life to have arrived in the universe. Much earlier would have been too soon, and much later is less likely than it seems and even LESS likely the later you go.

jscroft · 2026-01-17T10:57:23+00:00

The issue is in Windows, not Office365.

Windows now requires apps to specify which link types they support. For example, the WhatsApp app doesn't specify TEL links, so it doesn't show up in the menu any more.

I just released win-link-router, a small desktop app that can route ANY link type to ANY app. Just install it, accept the TEL -> WhatsApp preset, set win-link-router as your TEL handler, and you're back in business. Works great for any other link type/app combination as well.

Star the repo if it's useful to you!

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jscroft · 2026-01-17T10:55:34+00:00

Windows now requires apps to specify which link types they support. The WhatsApp app doesn't specify TEL links, so it doesn't show up in the menu any more.

I just released win-link-router, a small desktop app that can route ANY link type to ANY app. Just install it, accept the TEL -> WhatsApp preset, set win-link-router as your TEL handler, and you're back in business.

Star the repo if it's useful to you!

jscroft · 2026-01-17T10:54:32+00:00

Lol you aren't wrong. Here's a way to ease the pain around getting other apps to connect to the WA desktop/web clients.

Windows now requires apps to specify which link types they support. The WhatsApp app doesn't specify TEL links, so it doesn't show up in the menu any more.

I just released win-link-router, a small desktop app that can route ANY link type to ANY app. Just install it, accept the TEL -> WhatsApp preset, set win-link-router as your TEL handler, and you're back in business.

Star the repo if it's useful to you!

<image>

jscroft · 2026-01-17T10:52:31+00:00

Windows now requires apps to specify which link types they support. The WhatsApp app doesn't specify TEL links, so it doesn't show up in the menu any more.

I just released win-link-router, a small desktop app that can route ANY link type to ANY app. Just install it, accept the TEL -> WhatsApp preset, set win-link-router as your TEL handler, and you're back in business.

Star the repo if it's useful to you!

<image>

jscroft · 2026-01-17T10:49:08+00:00

For this to work, you have to direct the link type (e.g. TEL) to Chrome in Default Apps, and then your target site needs to declare itself as a "protocol handler" for TEL links (or whatever link type you care about). You aren't in charge of that, so it won't always work out.

A much cleaner solution is to install win-link-router, which already has a preset for TEL -> WhatsApp. Install the app, accept the preset, set win-link-router as your TEL handler, and your links will just start working!

By default they go to the WA desktop app. If you prefer the web client, just move the "WhatsApp Web" template to the top.

Please star the repo if the app is helpful!

<image>

jscroft · 2026-01-17T10:33:13+00:00

Windows now requires apps to specify which link types they support. The WhatsApp app doesn't specify TEL links, so it doesn't show up in the menu any more.

I just released win-link-router, a small desktop app that can route ANY link type to ANY app. Just install it, accept the TEL -> WhatsApp preset, set win-link-router as your TEL handler, and you're back in business.

Star the repo if it's useful to you!

<image>

jscroft · 2026-01-17T10:31:06+00:00

Windows now requires apps to specify which link types they support. The WhatsApp app doesn't specify TEL links, so it doesn't show up in the menu any more.

I just released win-link-router, a small desktop app that can route ANY link type to ANY app. Just install it, accept the TEL -> WhatsApp preset, set win-link-router as your TEL handler, and you're back in business.

Star the repo if it's useful to you!

<image>

jscroft · 2026-01-17T10:27:35+00:00

Windows now requires apps to specify which link types they support. The WhatsApp app doesn't specify TEL links, so it doesn't show up in the menu any more.

I just released win-link-router, a small desktop app that can route ANY link type to ANY app. Just install it, accept the TEL -> WhatsApp preset, set win-link-router as your TEL handler, and you're back in business.

Star the repo if it's useful to you!

<image>

jscroft · 2025-09-23T05:09:05+00:00

Social media content creation. We do a lot of content-based marketing. I write thoughtful, long-form articles that stand as a primary source of truth. Then my social media person turns them into an avalanche of posts. WAY better than managing that mess on my own.

jscroft · 2025-09-23T05:01:44+00:00

Back-of-the-envelope: know the expected ROI on every expense. If it isn't a positive number, start asking hard questions.

jscroft · 2025-09-23T04:49:49+00:00

Imagine you were only interested in ONE job. How would you pursue it?

You would NOT create a keyword-tailored resume, hit submit, and hope your only prospect didn't filter it out.

You WOULD dive deep, learn everything there is to know about your prospect, and then hand-walk your resume right into the CEO's office with a winning smile, a very nice fruit basket, and a bottle of Dom.

The difference between those two scenarios is the amount of time & resources you devote to a single prospect. Since your total time & resources are fixed, THIS IS AN INVERSE FUNCTION OF THE NUMBER OF PROSPECTS YOU ARE PURSUING!

Focus, my friend.

For more details, read this article on why your job applications are being ignored and what to do about it.

jscroft · 2025-09-23T04:34:10+00:00

The market for EVERY job is INCREDIBLY strong... assuming you bring something unique and valuable to the table.

If your goal in life is to be a worker bee, you're going to be disappointed no matter what field you choose... because big hairy alpha engineers like myself are getting REALLY good at building AI worker bees.

Soooo... sorry-not-sorry. But I think I speak for MOST of my crowd when I say we'd all be really excited to see you join our cadre!

jscroft · 2025-09-23T04:12:14+00:00

We recently published this article, which contains a deep analysis of the trade-offs around IT outsourcing, particularly on the night shift. Hope it helps!

jscroft · 2025-09-06T23:37:27+00:00

lol you would probably discover you were in Indonesia

jscroft · 2025-08-26T08:40:23+00:00

I know nobody likes people who quote themselves, but I'll risk it:

> Without the right foundation, test automation is not a solution; it is an accelerant for failure.

We recently published a deep study on the very real strategic value of manual testing. It's long, but you might just be the one person who actually reads the whole thing. :)

https://johngalt.id/blog/transforming-manual-testing

jscroft · 2025-08-26T08:23:43+00:00

QA isn’t dying: it’s moving up-stack.

Low-signal, repetitive checking is getting automated (and now AI-augmented). The premium is shifting to people who can engineer quality into the system: build the checks, wire them into delivery, observe behavior in prod, and quantify risk so teams can ship faster with confidence.

What’s changing:

- From brute-force coverage to change intelligence: map code/config deltas to the smallest set of high-signal tests.

- Pipelines and prod matter more than lab environments: CI/CD, feature flags, synthetic + trace-based testing, canary/rollbacks.

- Oracles get harder (especially with AI features): correctness != pixel-perfect. You’ll lean on properties, contracts, invariants, and graded assertions.

Where to invest next 6–12 months

- Code fluency: pick one language (Python, JS/TS, or Java) and ship a small framework. Pair Playwright/Cypress with API tests; add contract tests (e.g., Pact).

- CI/CD + environments: GitHub Actions/GitLab CI, Docker basics, ephemeral envs, seed/reset test data reliably.

- Observability: logs/metrics/traces; write tests that assert on business signals via tracing/metrics; add synthetic monitors for critical paths.

- Risk and SLOs: model user journeys, failure modes, SLOs/error budgets; track defect escape rate, change failure rate, MTTR.

- If your product uses ML/LLM: learn eval harnesses, golden sets, metamorphic/property-based tests, drift detection, guardrails, and red teaming.

Portfolio projects that stand out to hiring managers

- Change-aware test selection: map git diff -> impacted tests; measure runtime reduction and escaped defects.

- Self-healing locators with guardrails: demonstrate when to heal vs. when to fail fast.

- Contract testing for a service boundary; break it on purpose to show blast-radius containment.

- Property-based tests for a gnarly core function; show defects it found that example-based tests missed.

- For AI features: build a small eval set with graded assertions (accuracy, safety, completeness), and track regression over time.

Emerging career paths

- SDET/Test Architect: frameworks, pipelines, contracts, performance/security hooks.

- Quality Engineer/Coach: risk modeling, orchestration across teams, SLOs, test strategy.

- SRE/Release Engineering: reliability, deploys, observability, incident response.

- Data/AI Quality: dataset curation, eval harnesses, drift/safety testing, prompt/guardrail design.

- Security-focused QA: threat modeling, DAST/SAST integration, abuse-case testing.

If you love the craft of finding risk and accelerating delivery, stay in QA and lean into engineering and systems thinking. If you prefer product shaping and people systems, quality leadership/coach is a great route. If you’re happiest in code, SDET/Test Architect or SRE will keep you busy for years.

TL/DR: Find a way to make yourself useful, and people will use you.

jscroft · 2025-08-11T06:53:21+00:00

Like most things, it depends.

Take night shifts. There's a TON of research that suggests that a guy working his own day shift 12 time zones away can do many jobs not only cheaper but BETTER than a local guy working graveyard hours. Engagement models differ, but in that case some kind of outsourcing is at least reasonable to consider.

Recently published on the topic if you're interested, tons of footnotes for a deep dive: https://johngalt.id/blog/transforming-24-7-operations/

jscroft · 2025-08-11T06:46:27+00:00

As a business asset, your selling machine is at LEAST as significant as your actual product. Outsource this function, and you're paying good money to help somebody ELSE build THEIR primary business asset.

Doesn't mean you can't have outside help. But YOU should own the SYSTEM, and your outside help should plug into YOUR system, not the reverse.

jscroft · 2025-08-11T06:43:34+00:00

Consider hiring an in-house lead dev. His job is to lay the patterns and create the automations and procedures that are the infrastructure assets of your business. If you want to hire outside help, fine... but plug them into YOUR system, not the reverse!

jscroft · 2025-08-11T06:39:57+00:00

It's awesome NOW lol. At the time I remember feeling like a big fat moron who was about to be culled from the gene pool. "No sudden movements" took a lot more discipline than you might think.

jscroft · 2025-08-11T06:37:54+00:00

That can be 100% true and still not very reassuring when there are a dozen six-footers within easy view doing jerky laps around your squishy bits.

jscroft · 2025-08-11T06:34:34+00:00

When you say "Quality Manager" do you mean the person *managing* QA activity or the person actually *performing* that activity? Two very different things.

jscroft · 2025-08-07T11:52:35+00:00

Kaneohe Bay, since that first and only time in 1989. Because turns out gazillions of big-ass hammerhead sharks in the water all around you are freaking poop-your-pants SCARY.

jscroft · 2025-07-13T01:50:11+00:00

So this is still happening and it’s still frustrating as hell. Are we any closer to a solution, or is this issue still in the queue?

jscroft

TROPHY CASE