So many variables in software projects. The projects which go well have some things in common: - Estimates aren't treated as commitments. - Stakeholders have high availability. - The scope has flex (the goals can be fixed). - Release early and often, from day one. - The team owns the 'how'.

A smellfungus is somebody who always manages to find fault.

Sometimes I get to spend my day being ‘listening and asking questions nobody else dared ask’ as a service. Which I probably get as much from as they do to be honest.

Vibe coding and AI-led coding ignore essential principles of quality software like accessibility, optimisation, maintainability and security. It’s a shortcut sure, but not to the place people say it gets you. Let’s face it, many senior devs use it as a quicker option than to search Stackoverflow.

Just had my annual reminder from my mum that the clocks go back tonight. Always useful in case all modern technology fails me over the next 12 hours.

Why? That’s my most favourite question. I ask it all the time. Even when I know the answer. I use it to make people think. I use it to surface hidden knowledge to a group. I use it to stop early solution obsession. I use it to help find better options. If you’re safe to ask it, always ask it.

I would answer a lot more calls if the people text a couple of minutes before saying they'd be calling and what for.

Ticket systems hold two types of ticket. Clear: Simple to understand and testable and valuable and small. Incomplete: Missing info or sliceable or subjective, but mostly they just require conversations. You can guess where the rework comes from. Encourage flagging up incomplete tickets early.

Just put the word where the unhelpful orange dot is so I don't have to hover it to find out what it means! 🟠 This choice comes from the belief that people use your system enough they remember stuff like this. They don't. #UX #Usability

Three matrix options for prioritising your work: Eisenhower - Urgent / Important Delivery - Impact / Awaited Flow - Urgent / Blocking others

Status pages everywhere show green, because Statuspage.io is ALSO down: customers cannot log in to update their status page and indicate the outage their eng teams know about!! So a fail for Statuspage to depend on an AWS region... or DynamoDB (that seems to depend one AWS region?)

This morning I'm going to write a digital letter in Google Drive which includes a letter head that I don't have, so I'll have to create it, then export it as pdf and email it to procurement. The physical letter expectation has become digital, but nobody has thought about why.

It’s natural to fear automating the human parts of a business. But there’s a big difference between automating communication and notification. And between automating highly personal conversation and low impact data collection. It’s not all or nothing.

Two can’t be ‘a variety of’ right? A choice perhaps, but not a variety of. You’d need three, ideally four.

If I've learned one thing over the last week it is this: More people than you imagine read and share content you put online than you will ever see the stats for. Write for the orbiters too.

Some thoughts on the agency sales process. > How often do we deliver something fundamentally different from what we thought was agreed with a client? … and what can be done to improve on it? harrybailey.com/2025/10/thou...

Some brief thoughts on creative and digital agency stand-ups. > What if stand-ups were about planning instead of reporting? harrybailey.com/2025/10/thou...

Risks circle back. Decisions move forward. The small shift that made product work calmer (and faster): Stop Logging Risks. Start Driving Decisions.

I’m not impressed by an app very often, but honestly the Merlin Bird ID app is amazing. Uses your phone microphone to hear and flash up info for birds nearby. It’s free. It’s works really well. It keeps children entertained in a similar way to Pokémon catching. Highly recommended.

Last week the UK Institute for Public Policy Research said one in three workers has skipped work in the past year because of a hangover. One in three!

I’ve always wondered why you can’t order to your table in Costa.

TIL your ear hears differently. The brain processes sounds from each ear in slightly different ways. The right ear is often better at picking up speech and rhythm, while the left is more attuned to music and tone. A small reflection of the way a brain’s hemispheres specialise.

Wait until they hear about rotary dial phones. I still have flashbacks to using one to get through to a busy number.

This is my trick for keeping on top of my emails. I have a placeholder that I try to clear above most weekdays. I don't achieve it every day, but it's a marker to aim for.

As a family, we may have reached the point of sock-pairs bankruptcy.

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Chrome browser has a new 'read page aloud' features. So naturally I tested it on the welcome page which highlights this new feature. It announced: "Have Chrome red pages aloud". Red, not read. Hoisted with it's own petard.

Where juniors are a superpower When a team’s ways of working actively support the inclusion of its least experienced members, everyone benefits. agency-tactics.ghost.io/where-junior...

“It's going to be really bad': Fears over AI bubble bursting grow in Silicon Valley” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This this is awesome, but it must knock a block over occassionally surely? What's the emergency procedure?

I have a new most-hated website. It combined inclear UI with flaky session management and endless navigation loops to really push buttons. I give you ... lg.com 🎉 🥇 🏆

Halloucinations by ChatGPT are brutal. I was asking for it to gather some evidence for me yesterday. The mistake was seeding it with the outcome I was looking for. It came back with a totally plausible quote from a key industry expert. Hmmm I though. That sounds too good to be true. It was.

We're running a survey as part of our national accessibility campaign #TheHiddenJourney. If you encounter barriers when navigating online retail experiences, we'd love to get your thoughts. You can fill in the survey at the link below: forms.office.com/e/AZPraHaWHq #Accessibility #eCommerce

If flexibility in project delivery must be proportional to trust to balance risk, then trust has to exist before responding to change is possible. Does that mean a new client (or even one new stakeholder) needs a different approach to existing ones? (Trust level is just one variable to consider)

Agile (capital A, as a desirable approach) is dead, and I’ve worked out why. Not the values or principles or the bubble of popularity. Not that it doesn’t work. The men. The cause is purely a toxic group of experts who slide into discussions to correct and patronise any view other than their own.

I just tripped over the dog then fell backwards onto the open dishwasher door. How’s your day going?

I was advised (by an experienced public speaker) to submit a talk to an conference early and another one closer to their deadline. The thinking being that the first submission reduces the nerves and embarrasses you sufficiently to submit a better second one which ultimately gets accepted.

Good morning! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Very old article I wrote on "AWS Elastic Beanstalk crons on multi-instance environments" updated. The AWS docs are still pants. harrybailey.com/2022/09/elas...

If for every task a team is responsible for you ask 'why can a junior not complete this?' you surface all sorts of tribal knowledge, potential for automation and hidden risks. All the things hiding in the fragile layers of delivery. Tribal Ops.

Often the changes needed to offer junior team members the opportunities they need to thrive are actually just better ways of working for everybody.

Busy? Juniors still need support. - Pair working - Accessible group sessions - Let them own triage, with support - Ask “What do you think?" often - AAA: avoid all acronyms 😉 #AgencyTactics

Article incoming. "What I have yet to see is an Agile project delivery approach return on its promises when the project is sizable and the client is new to the agency and to Agile."

I finally know what 6-7 means.

Go fast or go far? It's all in how a team handle emergencies. Whatever the message they're hearing, it's the praised behaviour that drives the ongoing approach. Rewarding solo speed slowly creates tech debt and tribal knowledge. Pairs and threes reduces silos and ensures an accurate write up.

I've just seen a tv advert where an oven was installed in the side of a kitchen island. Where a kitchen has a big footprint, but limited wall space — think 2 doors, 2 windows — that's pretty clever.

Wordle 1,565 2/6 ⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

AI image generation is not yet perfect.

A year ago I created the CRAFT model for agency-client communication. Keep messages: C – Clear R – Relevant A – Authentic F – Frequent T – Timely Easy to apply, big difference in how clients experience your team. #AgencyTactics

Some good news. London is meeting legal limits for toxic NO2 pollution for the first time – almost 200 years earlier than predicted – following the Mayor’s "world leading air pollution policies," City Hall announces. The Ultra Low Emissions Zone - and similar policies - really do work.