TIL
Last updated: January 23, 2026
A running collection of excerpts I found interesting. I did not write any of the following, and attempt to give attribution where possible.
On waste is a feature
Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from destruction, disorder, and chaos. Now take this empty glass. Here it is: peaceful, serene, boring. But if it is destroyed… look at all these little things! So busy now. Notice how each one of them is useful. What a lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and color. Now, think about all those people that created them. Technicians, engineers, hundreds of people who will be able to feed their children tonight so those children can grow up big and strong and have little teeny children of their own and so on and so forth. Thus adding to the great chain of life.
On setting priorities
I learned that we can do anything, but we can’t do everything.
On dealing with setbacks, failures, delays, defeats, or other disasters
It’s become kind of a meme, but Jocko’s “Good.” The idea being this: if you’re in a difficult situation and starting to complain about it or dislike the pain, reframe your attitude and embrace the difficulty. It’s popped into my mind in a variety of situations, ranging from walking in a snowstorm to being exhausted during a run. In a deeper sense, it’s made me realize that a lot of our attitudes are socially conditioned and not actually what is “natural.”
On delivering minimal effective dose
I like the term ‘minimal effective dose’ (MED). The smallest dose that will produce the desired outcome. In QA this can be a manual testing plan, automated tests in the pipeline or something different. It’s the right place to start.
On effective communication
In general, effective communication isn’t about intent but about result. If you’re not getting the result you’re looking for then change up your communication until you do, regardless of intention.
On sunk cost
If you need a machine and don’t buy it, then you will ultimately find that you have paid for it and don’t have it
On how to get good advice from experts
ask what they’d do in your situation. Many experts feel they should just tell you all the options and let you decide. But they usually know which is the right one, and asking what they’d do gives them permission to tell you.
On team disagreement
in a disagreement, try to be genuinely, deep in your heart, open to the possibility that you are wrong and they are right. even if you are objectively 100% right, you’ll end up making a stronger argument for your position if you deeply understand & respect the counterargument
On codebase code quailty
What is the issue with code quality? Is there truly any noticeable impact, like frequent outages, or long development times? Or are people able to clock in, get their work done, and clock out without too much fuss?
The perspective I’m coming from is what would be in it for you if you could change it? Or are you trying to commit to best practices for best practices’ sake? While it sounds like the experience for you could lead to less career growth if you can’t sell it right, if people are comfortable where they are, do you think it’s right to disrupt the workplace with “better” when there is a culture of “good enough” and people are happy?
On learning faster
- Believe in your ability to learn
- Create a custom curriculum
- Avoid multitasking
- Meditate daily
- Constant cardio (30min/5min cardio break)
- Dependency parsing (seperate window, pause video search terms you don’t understand)
- Handwrite notes
- Teach others
- Eat well
- Sleep well
- anon
On suggesting alternative technical solutions
The reality is every decision is a trade-off. Don’t like what you see?
Hey team, I noticed this code is missing a,b,c. If we leave it, we’ll finish faster but we risk coupling the design to system x. I think we should…
That takes the binary out of the conversation and now you’re making decisions together. Leaders don’t get consensus, they build it.
On finding time for side projects
It takes many hours to make what you want to make. The hours don’t suddenly appear. You have to steal them from comfort. Whatever you were doing before was comfortable. This is not. This will be really uncomfortable
On being selfless
Life is not about you. It’s about what you do for others. The faster you are able to get over yourself, the more you can do for the people who matter most. Yet external forces keep pulling you toward self-centered pursuits. From books pushing “happiness” to advertisements convincing you that consumption leads to adoration, these messages tempt you to focus inward. That is all a trap (and a load of crap).
On what level do you stand your ground in difference of opinions
One really important thing is to distinguish between preference and business value. Is your opinion a choice between two mostly equivalent things?
e.g. gRPC vs REST, or MySQL vs Postgres. Largely accomplishing the same thing with different strengths and weaknesses, but both able to get the job done? That’s a preference.
Let your thoughts about the pros/cons be known but go with the flow. But maybe you are seeing something that will have multiplicative effects down the road. A bad architectural decision avoided, or a more efficient path followed. Those are high impact times to speak up and really push on your opinion. Make sure people understand the value you are seeing. If you are right, it usually becomes obvious to the team at some point.
On writing better
One of the best advices I’ve received - write without any editing, whatever is in your head. Once you are done, then you make a break, or even let it cool for a day or two and THEN and only THEN do you go for editing and cutting down
On burnout
Burnout is a response to repeated attempts to make meaningful change while lacking the agency to do so. See problems → try to fix them → get shot down or ignored.
On priority and urgency
It’s tough to put this into practice. But, one good bit of advice I see repeated (and strategy I use myself) is - if you have multiple things on your plate that are “urgent” - ask your boss/manager to prioritise them rather than just staying silent and not finishing everything by the deadline.
On delivering quickly
Speed [of delivery] is mostly a factor of familiarity. Even the best developers will take some time when dealing with something unfamiliar.
On maintaining complex systems
With a sufficient number of users of an API, it does not matter what you promise in the contract: all observable behaviors of your system will be depended on by somebody.
On achieving perfection
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
On breaking down a greenfield project
The approach I take is about risk mitigation: all projects have risk, and you should start by addressing the highest risks first and work your way down. I like to think through what might make this project…
- impossible or prohibitive to build
- take significantly longer to build than expected
- fail to actually deliver business / user value
On pessimism
He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey. He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived.
- The 36 Stratagems in Ancient China War: 三十六计
On sharing your work
When I was in art school, one thing I discovered was that many people believed they were defined by the work they created. If their work wasn’t good, they saw it as a reflection of their skill rather than a reflection of their taste, which was actually superior to their ability.
You are simply the person who created the work. You are a vessel, a medium for the work, but you are not the work itself.
The sooner you realize this, the easier it will be to share the work you have produced, receive feedback, develop your skills, and reflect on your taste.
On judgment
I had so much judgment of others, but it was really just a reflection of my own judgment of myself. I was so afraid of being judged, but I was the one judging myself the most.
On taking action
Conversely, the biggest mistakes of my life were mistakes of omission, not commission.
- Ada Yeo
On Innovation
Innovation is easier with small teams making decisive, concentrated bets, who don’t tolerate mediocre performers. That’s it.
- @sama
On deep work
Like a deep sea diver, it can take an hour to get to working depth on some problem. It is extremely disruptive to receive some random interruption, when you are working “at depth”, like being instantly pulled to the surface. You are probably unable to get back down to depth that same day afterwards. Most people not doing the particular work that we know, have no idea it’s like this.