Michael Smith
Videos
Practical thinking on engineering leadership, digital delivery, and the systems that make technical organizations work — on YouTube.
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If Everything Matters, Your Software Architecture Is Guesswork
Most architecture documents list the same characteristics: security, performance, scalability, availability. But if everything matters, the list tells you almost nothing.
The Part of AI You Can't Copy
People ask me for “the prompt” all the time after I use AI to turn work around faster than they expected. I'll give it to you — I just don't think it'll help as much as you think.
AI Can Do the Work. You Still Own These 3 Things.
I used AI to help run a security audit of a WordPress site — and the most important part wasn't that AI could find issues.
Stop Managing Software Delivery Like a Task List
Your sprint board can look perfect and still be lying to you. Jira, sprint boards, and velocity are good at answering one question: is the work moving?
Choose Architecture Before Technology
“We're a .NET shop.” “We use Drupal.” None of that tells you what to build — it tells you what somebody's comfortable with.
How Technical Leaders Should Deliver Bad News
An apology by itself is not a plan. And when something has gone wrong, a room full of good intentions is not what the other side actually needs from you.
AI Made Code Cheap. Engineering Still Matters.
A colleague asked why an agency should keep paying developers if AI can generate the screen. That question gets at the wrong part of the job.
Why Senior Engineers Solve Problems Faster
Watch a senior engineer work and it can look like mechanical speed. But the real advantage is usually fewer wrong turns.
The Real Problem With Vibe Coding: Nobody Owns the Software
I use AI to write software constantly, and I still think vibe coding can become a problem — not because AI can't write good code.
The Operator Trap: Why Fixing Everything Makes You the Bottleneck
Being great at fixing things can be the exact reason the system never gets fixed.
Why Technical Leaders End Up in Meetings All Day
A full calendar isn't proof you're doing a good job. Sometimes it means you're bad at saying no. Sometimes it means nobody knows who owns what.
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