Neil Hughes
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enhughesiasm.bsky.social
Neil Hughes
@enhughesiasm.bsky.social
230 followers 160 following 62 posts
author, mental health speaker & occasional comedian

a welcome breath of tedium in a world of thrills / all bait and no click

walkingoncustard.com
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Reposted by Neil Hughes
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I genuinely think @mrnikli.bsky.social may be one of the best business writers in history, and “Brainwash An Executive Today!” is one of the best written and insightful and funny business pieces of all time. A must read. Execs can be really stupid!

ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/brainwa...
"Would you say that data observability is an issue?", they inquire with a tone that very clearly implies that this is a leading question. I am immediately deeply worried. For those who are unaware! , my specialty is building systems that move large amounts of data through companies, organize them in a way that is at least marginally less of a horrific clusterfuck than what random people without specific training will do when left to their own devices, and sometimes assist with statistics. Data observability is the high-level term that captures the ability of a business to go "Instead of downloading the data, it would appear the computers caught fire this morning. Would you like to fix this or pretend it never happened?" The reason that I'm concerned is that the executive in front of me should not be using that term. They have no idea what it really means, which is fine because they aren't specialized in my area, but I am wondering why someone who requires crayon-tier technical explanations is inquiring about a niche, unsexy element of a platform they don't understand. This would be like my 96-year-old grandfather asking me about Bitcoin mining-impressive if he had arrived at the question organically, but in practice I'm already dialing the bank to report a massive theft. ...Yes," I reply hesitant, "but I think we can remedy most of that by implementing some basic testing. With some backing, I can accomplish that in a month or two." "What do you think about Monte Carlo?" What the fuck is Monte Carlo? I've never heard of that. I mean, I know there's a place called Monte Carlo, and I know of Monte Carlo algorithms, but there's no way this person is talking about either of those. It must be a product. "I don't know what that is." "I saw it on LinkedIn last night and I think it will solve our observability issues. Do you think we should get it?" Oh. Oh no. I don't understand what exactly happened last night on LinkedIn, but I know it is dark and sad and reeks of unfulfilled wants. The executive sat before me has been marketed to. No, worse, they have been Marketed to, with a capital M.
November 22, 2025 at 11:37 PM