The Journal

Notes from the studio.

Writing on privacy, craft and what it is actually like to build software slowly, by one person.

A brass letter slot in the centre of a weathered bright blue front door, with a brass knob and lock alongside
Products

What an instruction inside an email can't talk its way into

An assistant reading your mail is reading text written by strangers, and a stranger can write it an order. Everything this server does about that, named, and the place each one stops.

12 min read
A row of vintage alarm clocks on a wooden shelf, the nearest in focus and the rest receding into blur
Products

I asked five times and got one answer

PageSpeed Insights caches its result and hands it back, so running it five times and taking the median can give you a single measurement wearing five hats. Here's how I found out, and the second version of the problem that walked straight past my first fix.

6 min read
A watchmaker's bench with a loupe, tweezers and a watch movement part way through a repair
Products

Catchlight, where it stands

An honest progress report on the first Considus product. What is built, what got torn out and rebuilt, and why there is no date attached to any of it.

3 min read
A luthier working alone on a guitar body at his workshop bench
Craft

What a one-person studio can actually do

Not a claim that small is better at everything, because it isn't. A straight look at what a studio this size can do that a large one structurally can't, and what it gives up for it.

3 min read
Precision measuring tools including callipers laid out on a black surface
Craft

Using AI to write code isn't cheating

It removes effort, not judgement, and it will take a finger off if you're not careful. What building with it actually changed, and what it didn't touch at all.

3 min read