Field Notes
I've started noticing something I recognise, but sometimes can't quite explain. Every so often, a word arrives. I don't go looking for it. It just surfaces and then it stays, quietly becoming the thing I reach for, until one day I realise it'
AI
Today I asked my AI Assistant to do as I always do, co-create a field note and in that as always, using the tone and context I setup from the very beginning and is consistent in the Project Instructions, and has never changed. When I considered why this might
Essays
We need three standards working together, and we need them to be mandatory. Right now, there is fragmented work happening across three critical areas: portable user context, intelligent routing across models and providers, and standardised inference APIs. Each piece exists in different states of maturity. None of them are formalised
Essays
I had Kobe beef in Kyoto last December. I looked forward to it, it was on my todo for that trip. It was extraordinary. The kind of meal you count yourself lucky to experience if only once. The difference between Kobe and regular beef isn't subtle, it'
CTO OS
Note: This essay discusses my approach to challenges using synthetic examples. Real detailed STAR examples are in a private markdown resource shared selectively under NDA. I learn more from difficult situations than from smooth operations. The decisions that teach me most are the ones where multiple stakeholders have competing interests,
CTO OS
My relationship with technology spans four distinct phases, each informing how I think and what I can do today. As a Technical Support Specialist at Microsoft UK I learned how technology actually fails. I supported Visual Studio, SQL Server, and COM at the product level, debugging customer issues under pressure
Philosophy, how I think. Character and Patina I believe people are shaped by pressure, not despite it. Character isn't built in comfort, it's built in difficulty, failure, and the choice to stay and learn rather than retreat. When I look for people to work with, I&
CTO OS
Resources are downloadable supporting artefacts, sometimes markdown files designed for both AI processing and human adaptation, sometimes as word documents when specifically targeted for human use. Perspective Markdown Files These are markdown files that describe how I show up, my history, my experiences etc. I use them as inputs into
Perspectives are explanatory content that define how I operate, think, and approach key areas of technology leadership. Unlike Field Notes (observations from the ground) or Essays (thinking on what's coming), Perspectives are foundational descriptions of my philosophy, values, and decision-making frameworks. Perspectives form the "how I
CTO OS
Agents are AI Agents I have built to help in performing my role. Not overhype and overused, just simple helpful agents that can do things repeatably in a fraction of the time I could. Agents published on the CTO Operating Systems are used for mainly research / analysis and information gathering.
CTO OS
The leader of leaders. The person who gives me day to day confidence, who builds, grows and optimises our engineering function, and when I take time off, seamlessly steps into day to day CTO operations and shields me. When I want to vent has an ear, and when who needs
CTO OS
Easily the most important people in the building. Language aside, the Principal Engineers are the IC7. The gold dust and in many many years of leading technology companies are the 10x over all. Why? Because they are the engineers of the engine. They design the engine and as a CTO