Niko Heikkilä
@nikoheikkila.fi
Software Craftsman and Extreme Programmer. Ambassador in all things Agile and DevOps. Working in the intersection of people and tech. Prominent in solving problems by eliminating process waste and amplifying how people work together.
Pinned
Niko Heikkilä
@nikoheikkila.fi
· Mar 26
AI-augmented Software Development: Hype, Vibes and Smoking Production Environments — Polar Squad
AI helps us code faster, but real impact comes from fixing delivery. Explore the hidden costs of AI tools, and how teams can work smarter, not just faster.
polarsquad.com
My first article for the Polar Squad blog lands with a hot and possibly unpopular take: AI-augmented software development isn't the silver bullet you've been looking for. Still, you can make it work by focusing on software delivery instead of development productivity.
polarsquad.com/blog/ai-augm...
polarsquad.com/blog/ai-augm...
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
The finale of the great TV comedy show Blackadder goes Forth.
Back then I didn't expect one of the funniest programmes ever to end with a scene that makes me cry every time I see it.
Every single time.
Back then I didn't expect one of the funniest programmes ever to end with a scene that makes me cry every time I see it.
Every single time.
November 11, 2025 at 12:33 PM
The finale of the great TV comedy show Blackadder goes Forth.
Back then I didn't expect one of the funniest programmes ever to end with a scene that makes me cry every time I see it.
Every single time.
Back then I didn't expect one of the funniest programmes ever to end with a scene that makes me cry every time I see it.
Every single time.
Netlify is worsening its pricing model by replacing build minutes with credits.
Soon, each production deployment will cost me 15 credits, allowing for only 20 deployments per month.
Soon, each production deployment will cost me 15 credits, allowing for only 20 deployments per month.
November 10, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Netlify is worsening its pricing model by replacing build minutes with credits.
Soon, each production deployment will cost me 15 credits, allowing for only 20 deployments per month.
Soon, each production deployment will cost me 15 credits, allowing for only 20 deployments per month.
I have a strange little pastime activity as a coroner, where I go through some of my old hobby projects that have been gathering dust for months or years, and nurse them back to health.
Well, being a coroner is an exaggeration since they haven't really died ever. Every time I note the same pattern:
Well, being a coroner is an exaggeration since they haven't really died ever. Every time I note the same pattern:
November 7, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I have a strange little pastime activity as a coroner, where I go through some of my old hobby projects that have been gathering dust for months or years, and nurse them back to health.
Well, being a coroner is an exaggeration since they haven't really died ever. Every time I note the same pattern:
Well, being a coroner is an exaggeration since they haven't really died ever. Every time I note the same pattern:
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
One piece of common wisdom that I've come to disagree with is "do the most complicated thing first." In a waterfall world, that's a risk-reduction strategy, but in an incremental development context, it's actually the opposite.
1/7
1/7
November 2, 2025 at 4:58 PM
One piece of common wisdom that I've come to disagree with is "do the most complicated thing first." In a waterfall world, that's a risk-reduction strategy, but in an incremental development context, it's actually the opposite.
1/7
1/7
This is a good read. The sick cult of velocity burns out minds and ends careers at worst. Professionalism is about being slow when the time calls for it and accelerating thoughtfully.
"The world doesn’t need faster engineers. It needs steadier ones"
russmiles.substack.com/p/in-praise-...
"The world doesn’t need faster engineers. It needs steadier ones"
russmiles.substack.com/p/in-praise-...
In Praise of Slow Software Engineering
How to be a better software developer by focussing on the right tempo, not speed
russmiles.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 5:02 PM
This is a good read. The sick cult of velocity burns out minds and ends careers at worst. Professionalism is about being slow when the time calls for it and accelerating thoughtfully.
"The world doesn’t need faster engineers. It needs steadier ones"
russmiles.substack.com/p/in-praise-...
"The world doesn’t need faster engineers. It needs steadier ones"
russmiles.substack.com/p/in-praise-...
Skip tonight's movie and read this if your management is shoving LLM usage on your team.
Re-reading The AI-Ready Software Developer posts in a single sitting - which I should have done sooner (but the broken links are fixed now) - took me about 90 minutes.
There's a chunk of a book here.
codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/t...
There's a chunk of a book here.
codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/t...
The AI-Ready Software Developer – Index
Industry data and empirical studies about the impact of AI coding assistants on development team productivity show a clear trend. AI code generation used by teams with bottlenecks, blockers and qua…
codemanship.wordpress.com
November 2, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Skip tonight's movie and read this if your management is shoving LLM usage on your team.
Pull Requests are mandatory here.
Write your developer horror story in 5 words or less. 🎃
We'll go first: Remote code execution.
https://github.blog/open-source/inside-the-breach-that-broke-the-internet-the-untold-story-of-log4shell/
We'll go first: Remote code execution.
https://github.blog/open-source/inside-the-breach-that-broke-the-internet-the-untold-story-of-log4shell/
October 31, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Pull Requests are mandatory here.
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
...because organisations aren't bundles of individuals, but systems. And as @jasongorman.bsky.social points out, if you add a "fire-hose to your plumbing", and your plumbing has lots of bottlenecks, it might not go all that well.
October 30, 2025 at 1:19 PM
...because organisations aren't bundles of individuals, but systems. And as @jasongorman.bsky.social points out, if you add a "fire-hose to your plumbing", and your plumbing has lots of bottlenecks, it might not go all that well.
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
When folks talk about their "AI-assisted" dev process, it's very useful to see the resulting code so I can calibrate my understanding of what they mean by "good".
October 26, 2025 at 10:17 AM
When folks talk about their "AI-assisted" dev process, it's very useful to see the resulting code so I can calibrate my understanding of what they mean by "good".
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
Things that not every product needs:
- push notifications
- chat
- a perky AI assistant
Jus’ sayin
- push notifications
- chat
- a perky AI assistant
Jus’ sayin
October 25, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Things that not every product needs:
- push notifications
- chat
- a perky AI assistant
Jus’ sayin
- push notifications
- chat
- a perky AI assistant
Jus’ sayin
"Gamers talk about 'saving their game'. If you save your game (at least before a boss fight) you can gracefully return to your healthy pre-battle state. It’s the same with software." — @agile-otter.bsky.social
www.industriallogic.com/blog/save-yo...
www.industriallogic.com/blog/save-yo...
Save Your Game
Make it easy to start over so your back is never against the wall.
www.industriallogic.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
"Gamers talk about 'saving their game'. If you save your game (at least before a boss fight) you can gracefully return to your healthy pre-battle state. It’s the same with software." — @agile-otter.bsky.social
www.industriallogic.com/blog/save-yo...
www.industriallogic.com/blog/save-yo...
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
If we're having a debate, and at any point you say, "let's ask ChatGPT", then you lose by default.
October 21, 2025 at 8:17 PM
If we're having a debate, and at any point you say, "let's ask ChatGPT", then you lose by default.
Only when used properly, which does not mean writing imperative script logic inside functions.
The same goes for OOP, naturally.
The same goes for OOP, naturally.
Does functional programming SOLVE complexity, or is it just another style we’ve all decided to argue about?
October 3, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Only when used properly, which does not mean writing imperative script logic inside functions.
The same goes for OOP, naturally.
The same goes for OOP, naturally.
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
People think software development is about writing code. It is not!
It is about:
Communication
Collaboration
Simplicity
Courage
Respect
-- XP Values, @kentbeck.com
@jamesshore.bsky.social #agilecam
It is about:
Communication
Collaboration
Simplicity
Courage
Respect
-- XP Values, @kentbeck.com
@jamesshore.bsky.social #agilecam
October 2, 2025 at 9:15 AM
People think software development is about writing code. It is not!
It is about:
Communication
Collaboration
Simplicity
Courage
Respect
-- XP Values, @kentbeck.com
@jamesshore.bsky.social #agilecam
It is about:
Communication
Collaboration
Simplicity
Courage
Respect
-- XP Values, @kentbeck.com
@jamesshore.bsky.social #agilecam
I'm seeing a wave after another of people migrating away from Vercel. What a meltdown for a tech company, although there must be a tiny wave of right-wing nuts subscribing for support.
I migrated to Netlify years ago for better developer experience. I haven't regretted that decision.
I migrated to Netlify years ago for better developer experience. I haven't regretted that decision.
October 1, 2025 at 4:34 PM
I'm seeing a wave after another of people migrating away from Vercel. What a meltdown for a tech company, although there must be a tiny wave of right-wing nuts subscribing for support.
I migrated to Netlify years ago for better developer experience. I haven't regretted that decision.
I migrated to Netlify years ago for better developer experience. I haven't regretted that decision.
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
"Teams that care about quality will take the time to understand LLM-generated code before it makes it into the repo.
But some teams are checking in code nobody’s read, and that’s only been cursorily tested. And, evidently, there’s a lot of them."
codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/c...
But some teams are checking in code nobody’s read, and that’s only been cursorily tested. And, evidently, there’s a lot of them."
codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/c...
Comprehension Debt: The Ticking Time Bomb of LLM-Generated Code
An effect that’s being more and more widely reported is the increase in time it’s taking developers to modify or fix code that was generated by Large Language Models. If you’ve wo…
codemanship.wordpress.com
September 30, 2025 at 7:52 AM
"Teams that care about quality will take the time to understand LLM-generated code before it makes it into the repo.
But some teams are checking in code nobody’s read, and that’s only been cursorily tested. And, evidently, there’s a lot of them."
codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/c...
But some teams are checking in code nobody’s read, and that’s only been cursorily tested. And, evidently, there’s a lot of them."
codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/c...
Don't just prepare for the bad news, beg for it! The most enriching discussions with my peers have begun with me actively seeking criticism.
🧵
🧵
September 29, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Don't just prepare for the bad news, beg for it! The most enriching discussions with my peers have begun with me actively seeking criticism.
🧵
🧵
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
If your research into developer productivity is based on Pull Request stats, you've excluded some of the most productive teams from your data.
September 29, 2025 at 6:36 AM
If your research into developer productivity is based on Pull Request stats, you've excluded some of the most productive teams from your data.
This is the way.
September 27, 2025 at 8:29 PM
This is the way.
We ordered books for our office book club from Amazon.
Purchase made in the Amazon storefront, sold by World of Books, delivered by Mail Handling International, delivery outsourced to DPD, and further outsourced to Postnord.
This is why I almost exclusively purchase ebooks. Logistics is a joke.
Purchase made in the Amazon storefront, sold by World of Books, delivered by Mail Handling International, delivery outsourced to DPD, and further outsourced to Postnord.
This is why I almost exclusively purchase ebooks. Logistics is a joke.
September 22, 2025 at 9:55 AM
We ordered books for our office book club from Amazon.
Purchase made in the Amazon storefront, sold by World of Books, delivered by Mail Handling International, delivery outsourced to DPD, and further outsourced to Postnord.
This is why I almost exclusively purchase ebooks. Logistics is a joke.
Purchase made in the Amazon storefront, sold by World of Books, delivered by Mail Handling International, delivery outsourced to DPD, and further outsourced to Postnord.
This is why I almost exclusively purchase ebooks. Logistics is a joke.
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
Large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
September 21, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits.
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
HEY has been a truly excellent email client, and I've been using it since it launched, but it's a tad too costly for my personal email needs.
After reading this blog post, I suddenly found looking for alternative clients very easy and attractive. I already use Fastmail for mail storage and domains.
After reading this blog post, I suddenly found looking for alternative clients very easy and attractive. I already use Fastmail for mail storage and domains.
Ages ago, when I was still a student, I taught myself Ruby on Rails for my senior thesis and fell in love. Fifteen years later, and I’ve used Rails at every job I’ve ever held in the tech industry. Fifteen years, and I still love Rails! But there’s something rotten at its core, and we share a name.
Rails Needs New Governance
Ages ago, when I was still a student, I taught myself Ruby on Rails for my senior thesis and fell in love. Fifteen years later, and I’ve used Rails at every job I’ve ever held in the tech industry. Fifteen years, and I still love Rails! But there’s something rotten at its core, and we share a name.
davidcel.is
September 20, 2025 at 10:52 AM
HEY has been a truly excellent email client, and I've been using it since it launched, but it's a tad too costly for my personal email needs.
After reading this blog post, I suddenly found looking for alternative clients very easy and attractive. I already use Fastmail for mail storage and domains.
After reading this blog post, I suddenly found looking for alternative clients very easy and attractive. I already use Fastmail for mail storage and domains.
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
ON THIS DAY in 2014 i was being widely accused of having millions in a swiss bank due to my collusion with technology conspiracies that ran all the way up to the top academic and government institutions
September 18, 2025 at 5:35 PM
ON THIS DAY in 2014 i was being widely accused of having millions in a swiss bank due to my collusion with technology conspiracies that ran all the way up to the top academic and government institutions
Reposted by Niko Heikkilä
"…and Magda Goebbels made a great strudel.”
September 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM
"…and Magda Goebbels made a great strudel.”