Thoughts on software engineering, product development, and building things right.https://theredbeard.io/en-gbhttps://theredbeard.io/blog/the-missing-memory-type/https://theredbeard.io/blog/the-missing-memory-type/Every agent framework implements retrospective memory. None of them implement prospective memory. Cognitive science has known about this gap for 35 years.Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/five-clis-walk-into-a-context-window/https://theredbeard.io/blog/five-clis-walk-into-a-context-window/I ran Sonnet 4.6 through five different coding CLIs, three times each, and traced every API call. Same model, wildly different context profiles.Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/projection-memory-glorified-cronjob/https://theredbeard.io/blog/projection-memory-glorified-cronjob/Agent memory only looks backward. I added a forward-looking type and benchmarked it against cron scheduling. Projection scored 4.80. Smart cron scored 2.59.Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/i-accidentally-benchmarked-three-free-llms-against-sonnet/https://theredbeard.io/blog/i-accidentally-benchmarked-three-free-llms-against-sonnet/I pointed GLM-5, Kimi K2.5, MiniMax M2.5, and Sonnet 4.6 at the same task. The differences showed up in planning, not raw capability.Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/i-intercepted-3177-api-calls-across-4-ai-coding-tools/https://theredbeard.io/blog/i-intercepted-3177-api-calls-across-4-ai-coding-tools/Claude used 23K tokens to fix a one-line bug. Gemini used 350K. I built a tool to find out why.Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/are-we-becoming-qa-for-the-machine/https://theredbeard.io/blog/are-we-becoming-qa-for-the-machine/Coding agents write the code, pick the next feature, and fix the bugs. You run the tests and say 'looks good.' Is that still engineering?Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/full-stack-is-too-full-and-not-full-enough/https://theredbeard.io/blog/full-stack-is-too-full-and-not-full-enough/"Full stack" sets expectations nobody can meet. The real gap isn't technical range, it's everything around the code.Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/integration-tests-on-gitlab-ci-with-docker/https://theredbeard.io/blog/integration-tests-on-gitlab-ci-with-docker/Using docker:dind plus docker compose in GitLab CI makes full integration tests feel local and repeatable.Thu, 08 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/ambition-should-be-about-what-you-want-to-do/https://theredbeard.io/blog/ambition-should-be-about-what-you-want-to-do/Ambition gets healthier when you focus on the work you want to do, not the title you want to carry.Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/empathy-is-the-most-undervalued-skill-in-software-engineering/https://theredbeard.io/blog/empathy-is-the-most-undervalued-skill-in-software-engineering/The hard part of building software has never been the building, but understanding why, for whom, and what happens if you get it wrong.Mon, 20 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/building-trust-after-a-failed-project/https://theredbeard.io/blog/building-trust-after-a-failed-project/When a client has been burned by a previous team, no amount of technical skill will save you. You need rhythm.Sun, 15 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/agile-is-no-excuse-to-start-without-a-plan/https://theredbeard.io/blog/agile-is-no-excuse-to-start-without-a-plan/Agile is fun. Failing early is great. But failing all the time isn't.Fri, 28 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/efficient-development-with-docker-and-docker-compose/https://theredbeard.io/blog/efficient-development-with-docker-and-docker-compose/Let's set up a development environment for a Python and Java service in Docker, featuring code watching, Gitlab CI, and other good stuff.Fri, 09 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/process-driven-rest-api-design/https://theredbeard.io/blog/process-driven-rest-api-design/REST is a heavily oversimplified and massively misunderstood (but very widely used) concept for designing APIs. Here's a better approach.Sat, 10 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/going-on-a-date-with-java/https://theredbeard.io/blog/going-on-a-date-with-java/A satirical commentary on Java's date/time libraries.Tue, 28 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/how-programmers-get-disqualified-from-doing-everything-else/https://theredbeard.io/blog/how-programmers-get-disqualified-from-doing-everything-else/Being able to program is one of the few skills that can make you be seen as less than what you are.Tue, 28 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/the-importance-of-simulation-and-visualization-in-iot-development/https://theredbeard.io/blog/the-importance-of-simulation-and-visualization-in-iot-development/Improving the efficiency of IoT systems development through better tooling.Wed, 22 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/the-case-for-semantic-programming/https://theredbeard.io/blog/the-case-for-semantic-programming/The journey to improve software development by orders of magnitude.Mon, 13 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/continuous-scrum/https://theredbeard.io/blog/continuous-scrum/Scrum is great, but it has some disadvantages. Let's discuss a potentially even better way of doing Scrum!Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/lessons-learned-using-scrum/https://theredbeard.io/blog/lessons-learned-using-scrum/My experiences after a few years of applying SCRUM for a software development process.Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/on-the-immaturity-of-software-engineering/https://theredbeard.io/blog/on-the-immaturity-of-software-engineering/We're still developing!Thu, 13 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/stop-tech-driven-problem-solving/https://theredbeard.io/blog/stop-tech-driven-problem-solving/Don't let new and shiny tech lure you into finding a problem for it. First identify the problem, then find the tech to solve it.Thu, 13 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/management-for-introverts/https://theredbeard.io/blog/management-for-introverts/How I've found a positive approach to management.Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/soft-skills-for-software-engineers/https://theredbeard.io/blog/soft-skills-for-software-engineers/Speaking up, disagreeing with intellect instead of emotions, and don't be an ass.Mon, 03 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/lora-the-latest-revolution-in-iot-wireless-technologies/https://theredbeard.io/blog/lora-the-latest-revolution-in-iot-wireless-technologies/What is LoRa, and how can you use it?Mon, 26 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/iot-isnt-about-smart-things-its-about-smart-interactions/https://theredbeard.io/blog/iot-isnt-about-smart-things-its-about-smart-interactions/Smart things are stupid. Smart systems are smart.Mon, 26 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://theredbeard.io/blog/simple-continuous-deployment-with-docker-compose-docker-machine-and-gitlab-ci/https://theredbeard.io/blog/simple-continuous-deployment-with-docker-compose-docker-machine-and-gitlab-ci/Let's be lazy and deploy simple docker-based architectures directly through docker compose, using only free tooling.Mon, 26 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMT