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  • How LLM’s Unlearn

    Or more accurately, can they? How Do LLMs Know Anything? Large Language Models (LLMs) “know” things by learning from vast datasets. How does that process actually work? It begins with data collection, pulling information from a wide range of sources like books, websites, and social media. This raw data is then broken down into tokens—smaller…

  • Job Stories: My New Favorite Way to Capture Requirements

    I didn’t think 2024 would be the year I threw out User Stories in favor for something new. But here I am, unable to stop talking about their replacement: job stories. Let’s take a few steps back. What is any of this? User Stories have been the cornerstone of software development since the dawn of…

  • Approved! How Talking to People At Work Increases Success Part I: Nemawashi

    Nemawashi is a technique for getting people on board with an idea before going through a formal approval process. In other words, “don’t call the vote unless you have the votes.” This perfectly describes one of the more successful techniques in affecting change I’ve encountered. Traditionally used in the context of proposing big changes or…

  • Courses I’ve Taken: How To Become an Outstanding Solution Architect

    I finished the udemy course “How to Become An Outstanding Solution Architect” in October 2023. I’d rate this course a 3/5. This course’s goal is to teach “all the soft and hard skills you need to take your architect design skills to the next level.” Does it do that? Well, for the right audience, a…

  • How I Plan Software Projects: Creating a Timeline

    It will come to the point in every Individual Contributor’s life that they’ll be asked to lead or assist in the planning of a project. How and when this comes will depend on a lot on the company and your specific career trajectory, but sooner or later, the request comes for us all. It starts…

  • Murky Consent in Software: GDPR & CCPA

    I was working in ad-tech when GDPR went live in 2018. It was a fever dream of sitting in stuffy meetings with product and leadership as they tried to decide what exactly counted as PII (Privately Identifiable Information), what did not and how much of a pain it would be to completely remove that information…