Thoughtful Engineering

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of AI Doom

The people building AI keep telling us we're doomed. Here's why they're wrong—and why it matters.

Mar 23 • Christine Miao

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February 2026

Why the Wrong People Get Promoted (And How to Get Promoted Instead)

Those who are most qualified for leadership often don’t end up as leaders. A playbook for aspiring leaders to get out of their own way, and into seats…

Feb 24 • Christine Miao and David Bentley

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January 2026

Junior Developers in the Age of AI

Companies are ditching junior engineers en masse. They'll tell you it's because AI writes better code. They’re right...but also missing the point.

Jan 14 • Christine Miao

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November 2025

“Why are my stakeholders so unreasonable?”

When "data-driven" leadership backfires.

Nov 10, 2025 • Christine Miao

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September 2025

How to Lead....When Leadership Won't

Navigating middle management when the existing culture and system is broken. An answer to a reader's letter.

Sep 3, 2025 • Christine Miao

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August 2025

Developers: Stop Job Hunting like it's 2015

Tech job hunters are working with outdated playbooks.

Aug 7, 2025 • Christine Miao and Randy Brown

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June 2025

"Explain the Business Impact!” (And Other Useless Advice)

Why the standard playbook for tech debt prioritization fails — and what we can do instead.

Jun 24, 2025 • Christine Miao

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May 2025

Not using AI? You're not the problem.

Successful technology adoption requires intentional, user-centered design and research. Too many AI companies have lost sight of this.

May 21, 2025 • Christine Miao

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April 2025

How Good Engineers Become Bad Leaders

The way we promote and insulate software engineers often sets them up to fail dramatically as leaders. Here's how, and a better way forward.

Apr 29, 2025 • Christine Miao

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How NOT to Learn AI

Why the AI hype machine really, *really* doesn't help

Apr 9, 2025 • Christine Miao

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March 2025

Why are Engineers so Hard to Understand?

Hint: it's not because they didn't explain the "business impact".

Mar 20, 2025 • Christine Miao

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AI is going to hack Jira

Hide your kids, hide your wife: how the Agile Industrial Complex has set us all up to be duped by AI codegen

Mar 3, 2025 • Christine Miao

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