# What I'm writing

> The model is the constant, and you're the variable.

I'm writing a series about what actually changes when agents do the work and you don't. The through-line is simple: the model is the constant, and you're the variable. Each piece takes one place I got it wrong and works out what it means for the rest of us.

## Read now

### The Thing That Made Me a Good Engineer Was the Thing I Had to Unlearn

I caught an agent about to make a mistake and felt good about it, and I was wrong to feel good about it. What I was best at just got cheap, and the job that's left is the one I didn't see coming.

July 2, 2026 · /writing/the-thing-i-had-to-unlearn/

## Season 1

A hub-and-spokes series. One is live; the rest are on the way.

1. The hub: the model is the constant, you're the variable. [Coming]
   The whole argument in one place. AI didn't hit a ceiling. It hit us.
2. I was the bottleneck. [Coming]
   For years I was the thing every change had to pass through, and I mistook that for being essential.
3. AI's ceiling predates AI. [Coming]
   The limit everyone blames on the model was already there in how we work. The agent just made it visible.
4. Stop being the gate. [Live]
   Caught an agent about to slip, felt proud, was wrong to feel proud. The thing I was best at just got cheap.
   /writing/the-thing-i-had-to-unlearn/
5. The more I specified, the worse it got. [Coming]
   My instinct was to pre-chew every step. The agent did better when I said plainly what I wanted and got out of the way.
6. Experience didn't get cheaper. It got repriced. [Coming]
   The part of my experience that was really just diligence is worth less now. The judgment is worth more.
7. Everyone is a leader now. [Coming]
   Directing an agent hands you the judgment call that used to be the back half of a career. Ready or not, it starts on day one.