I study why talented teams make bad decisions about software, and what to do about it. As Managing Partner at Don’t Panic Labs, I work with founders, engineers, and organizations to close the gap between knowing how to build and knowing what’s worth building.
Software engineers make hundreds of analytical judgments every sprint. Scope estimates, architecture tradeoffs, risk assessments. Most of them are unexamined. I talk about what happens when you treat engineering judgment as a skill to be developed, not an instinct to be trusted.
Medicine has malpractice standards. Structural engineering has building codes. Software has hope. I make the case for professional accountability in software product development, drawing on lessons from disciplines that figured this out centuries ago.
Most product ideas fail not because they’re technically infeasible, but because the founder is in love with the solution instead of the problem. I use the story of the Mechanical Turk to explore the psychology of entrepreneurial self-deception, and how to test for it.
I’m available for conferences, corporate events, and panels. Get in touch to discuss topics, format, and availability.