Field Notes
Practical writing for product leaders and boutique advisors – on deciding what to build, answering the hard questions, and running a sharper practice.
Burnout Isn't a Motivation Problem. It's a Pace Problem.
Tech burnout just became the majority experience — but people still like the work. It's a pace problem, and a lot of it is one you can stop imposing.
Your Team Isn't Split by AI. It's Split by You.
A 2026 survey says AI is splitting tech workers into thriving and struggling. The bigger truth: which side they land on is mostly about their manager.
Continuous Discovery Has an Infrastructure Problem, Not a Willpower Problem
Most teams fail at continuous discovery, but not from lack of discipline. It's missing infrastructure – and that's a fixable problem.
Diligence Is Getting Longer, Not Deeper
M&A due diligence has stretched from four months to nearly seven. Longer hasn't meant deeper – and that gap is where deals quietly break.
The AI Rule You Built For Just Got Repealed
The AI rules firms spent two years preparing for are now being repealed and pre-empted. Compliance built on a moving target needs a new approach.
Who Becomes Senior When AI Does All the Junior Work?
AI is automating the junior work that used to turn people into seniors. So who becomes senior once the training ground is gone?
Your Prioritization Framework Is Theater
Leadership overrides the prioritization framework most of the time. The score was never the decision – the conversation is.
The Diligence Gap: Why Nearly Half of Dead Deals Now Die in the Data Room
What kills M&A deals has shifted from financing to what buyers find in the data room – and earnings quality is the fastest-rising killer.
Thirty Years of Agile and Software Success Is Still Stuck at 31%
After decades of Agile, cloud, and better tools, software still succeeds about 31% of the time. The bottleneck was never the tooling.