The economics of software teams

The economics of software teams: Why most organizations are flying blind
14 minutes by Viktor Cessan

This post works through the financial logic of software teams, from what a team of eight engineers actually costs per month to what it needs to generate to be economically viable. It also examines why most teams have no visibility into either number, how that condition was built over two decades, and what the arrival of LLMs now means for organizations that have been treating large engineering headcount as an asset.

How to stop babysitting your agents
sponsored by Unblocked

Agents can generate code. Getting it right for your system is the hard part – you end up wasting time and tokens in the back and forth. More MCPs solve access but not understanding. Join us for a FREE webinar on April 23 to see how to give agents exactly what they need to generate mergeable code the first time.

Relocating rigor
7 minutes by Chad Fowler

New software practices often look reckless but actually move discipline closer to real results. From Extreme Programming to generative AI, rigor shifts from plans and code writing to testing, feedback, and clear rules. With AI, engineers must define intent and verify outcomes strictly. Progress depends not on removing discipline, but on relocating it where truth is easier to see.

Say the thing you want
4 minutes by Matheus Lima

Staying quiet about what you want at work is common, but it keeps others from helping you. Managers can't point you toward opportunities they don't know you're after. Saying it out loud also makes the goal real, which changes how you act. Next time someone asks if there's anything else, just say the thing.

I’m an introvert. This is how I get myself to speak up.
8 minutes by Wes Kao

Wes shares simple ways introverts can speak up and gain visibility at work. She explains how to prepare before meetings, speak early, and use writing to share ideas. She also suggests using go-to phrases, improving presence on video calls, and getting support from colleagues. Overall, Wes shows that with small habits and practice, even shy people can confidently share their thoughts.

The alarm that went silent
9 minutes by Mike Fisher

In 2003, a software failure knocked out alarm systems in a power grid control room. Operators saw silence and assumed safety. By the time they understood what was happening, 55 million people had lost power. The same trap catches product teams when dashboards go green but metrics are stale, incomplete, or quietly broken. Silence is not safety. Measurement systems need the same scrutiny as the things they measure.

Solving the “Illusion of Memory” in AI Agents
sponsored by Oracle

Building production AI agents is fundamentally a database problem. Avoid the “illusion of memory” by moving toward a persistent, evolving state instead of relying on large context windows. This technical deep dive explores using vectors, graphs, and ACID transactions in a converged engine, complete with code snippets and a GitHub notebook.

industry

• How NASA built Artemis II’s computer
• Making S3 buckets accessible as file systems
• Why Switzerland has 25 Gbit internet
• Sam Altman may control our future—can he be trusted?
• Employers are using your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you’ll accept

security

• Project Glasswing: Securing critical software for the AI era
• Cloudflare targets 2029 for full post-quantum security
• Cryptography engineer’s perspective on quantum computing
• Vulnerability research is cooked

And the most popular article from the last issue was:

• What I learned from nearly 1,000 interviews at Amazon