Notes on data, AI, IT
and security
No marketing fog. The way I think about real problems with founders and managers.
Data ownership: who signs off on the number
In most companies data exists but no one is responsible for its quality. I look at what data ownership actually means in practice.
Zero trust: what it actually means and when it is worth the investment
Zero trust has become one of the biggest buzzwords in security. I break down what is behind it and who it is actually relevant for.
When to split a monolith: the questions matter more than the hype
Microservices are a popular answer to the scaling question. But the right question is not 'split or not' - it is 'why and when'.
Event-driven architecture: what managers need to know before committing
Events and message queues solve real coordination problems between services. They also introduce complexity that is easy to underestimate from a project plan.
The gap between experiment and production: why ML models never reach work
Most ML projects show good results in experiments and perform poorly in production. I look at why this happens.
When a good model goes bad: drift, detection, and business cost
A model that passed every test at launch can quietly degrade over months. Understanding why helps you decide how much monitoring is worth the investment.
Real-time analytics: when it works and when it is expensive theatre
Streaming data and real-time dashboards have become a fashionable requirement. I look at when this actually solves a real problem.
Where RPA breaks: the process complexity ceiling
Robotic process automation delivers fast wins on simple, stable workflows. When processes have exceptions, it starts to cost more than it saves.
Warehouse automation: what is behind pick rate numbers
How to think through the economics of warehouse automation and why picking speed is not the main metric.
Cloud vendor lock-in: the tradeoffs that actually matter
Lock-in is not automatically bad. The question is whether you are trading flexibility for something you actually need, or just for a lower list price today.
The unexpected cloud bill: what companies discover a year after migration
Why cloud costs end up higher than projected - and what you can do before it becomes a problem.
Colonial Pipeline: when a cyberattack stops physical infrastructure
The May 2021 Colonial Pipeline attack showed that the boundary between IT security and operational security has disappeared.