Tom Yedwab
@tomyedwab.bsky.social
senior data architect @ Khan Academy, optimist, father of three. That about covers it.
Unpopular opinion of the day: protecting software developers from interruptions in the name of preserving "flow" state is overrated, and potentially harmful for the team as a whole. Deeper dive here: www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/flow-i...
"Flow" in software development is overrated
Tackling the myth that
www.arguingwithalgorithms.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Unpopular opinion of the day: protecting software developers from interruptions in the name of preserving "flow" state is overrated, and potentially harmful for the team as a whole. Deeper dive here: www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/flow-i...
Reposted by Tom Yedwab
I tried to make sense of "spec-driven development" by looking at 3 tools: Amazon's Kiro, GitHub's spec-kit, and the Tessl Framework
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Understanding Spec-Driven-Development: Kiro, spec-kit, and Tessl
Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery
martinfowler.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I tried to make sense of "spec-driven development" by looking at 3 tools: Amazon's Kiro, GitHub's spec-kit, and the Tessl Framework
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
If anyone from YouTube is following: you could save a ton of compute if we all just filled out a form documenting our current opinions and beliefs. The algorithm could more efficiently match us with confirming and affirming videos. Bonus: The form would never need updating!
October 3, 2025 at 12:58 AM
If anyone from YouTube is following: you could save a ton of compute if we all just filled out a form documenting our current opinions and beliefs. The algorithm could more efficiently match us with confirming and affirming videos. Bonus: The form would never need updating!
Reposted by Tom Yedwab
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
October 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
Reposted by Tom Yedwab
My Berkeley colleagues & I are saddened by the death of our colleague Robin Lakoff. Her 1972 book Language & Women's Place created the modern field of language & gender. She also wrote articulately, passionately & impactfully about Latin linguistics (Abstract Syntax & Latin Complementation, 1968) 1/
August 6, 2025 at 12:46 AM
My Berkeley colleagues & I are saddened by the death of our colleague Robin Lakoff. Her 1972 book Language & Women's Place created the modern field of language & gender. She also wrote articulately, passionately & impactfully about Latin linguistics (Abstract Syntax & Latin Complementation, 1968) 1/
If you've tried agentic AI coding for larger features and got stuck in a "death spiral", I highly recommend this pattern: www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/techni...
How to keep your AI coding agent from going rogue
Complete agentic LLM coding projects reliably with this proven workflow.
www.arguingwithalgorithms.com
May 22, 2025 at 5:59 AM
If you've tried agentic AI coding for larger features and got stuck in a "death spiral", I highly recommend this pattern: www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/techni...
Wrote up some thoughts about the difficulty in using AI agents effectively in legacy codebases and how we might overcome it: www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/legacy...
Overcoming the legacy roadblock
Legacy codebases are the bane of AI tools. How can we overcome this?
www.arguingwithalgorithms.com
April 9, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Wrote up some thoughts about the difficulty in using AI agents effectively in legacy codebases and how we might overcome it: www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/legacy...
Reposted by Tom Yedwab
I have a new blog post up: "Corporate 'DEI' Is An Imperfect Vehicle for Deeply Meaningful Ideals" charity.wtf/2025/02/10/c...
I know a lot of people are feeling incredibly scared and demoralized right now. I get it; I am too. (Who knows if my marriage will still be valid in two years?)
I know a lot of people are feeling incredibly scared and demoralized right now. I get it; I am too. (Who knows if my marriage will still be valid in two years?)
Corporate “DEI” is an imperfect vehicle for deeply meaningful ideals
I have not thought or said much about DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) over the years. Not because I don’t care about the espoused ideals — I suppose I do, rather a lot — but because corporate…
charity.wtf
February 10, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I have a new blog post up: "Corporate 'DEI' Is An Imperfect Vehicle for Deeply Meaningful Ideals" charity.wtf/2025/02/10/c...
I know a lot of people are feeling incredibly scared and demoralized right now. I get it; I am too. (Who knows if my marriage will still be valid in two years?)
I know a lot of people are feeling incredibly scared and demoralized right now. I get it; I am too. (Who knows if my marriage will still be valid in two years?)
A write-up of my recent experiment to build and deploy a personal self-hosted task list application using AI tools from scratch in a single week, how it went and what I learned. It is absolutely wild what we can do today with these tools! www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/the-ei...
The Eighteen Hour Application: The Project AI Made Possible
How I used AI tools to write a personal application from scratch in 18 hours.
www.arguingwithalgorithms.com
February 6, 2025 at 5:25 AM
A write-up of my recent experiment to build and deploy a personal self-hosted task list application using AI tools from scratch in a single week, how it went and what I learned. It is absolutely wild what we can do today with these tools! www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/the-ei...
Reposted by Tom Yedwab
"Having overcome my broader skepticism, I find I’m just shocked at the mental gymnastics militant cynics will execute to avoid admitting that generative AI is doing anything particularly unique or useful."--@mikecaulfield
I do see that too sometimes.
mikecaulfield.substack.com/p/critical-r...
I do see that too sometimes.
mikecaulfield.substack.com/p/critical-r...
Critical Reasoning with AI: How we know LLMs are applying reasoning patterns, and not just reverse image searching
Writing this because I'm tired of having this argument
mikecaulfield.substack.com
January 1, 2025 at 11:23 PM
"Having overcome my broader skepticism, I find I’m just shocked at the mental gymnastics militant cynics will execute to avoid admitting that generative AI is doing anything particularly unique or useful."--@mikecaulfield
I do see that too sometimes.
mikecaulfield.substack.com/p/critical-r...
I do see that too sometimes.
mikecaulfield.substack.com/p/critical-r...
I wrote up a review of Cursor and how I use it for software development, which seems to be a hot (and mildly controversial) topic these days: www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/cursor...
How I write code using Cursor: A review
A personal review of Cursor, an LLM-powered coding tool.
www.arguingwithalgorithms.com
October 29, 2024 at 5:10 PM
I wrote up a review of Cursor and how I use it for software development, which seems to be a hot (and mildly controversial) topic these days: www.arguingwithalgorithms.com/posts/cursor...