davidpoll.com

Building systems, writing about engineering, and learning in public.

Posts

Jun 13, 2026
Software Is Not A Single-Player Game

When I wrote a few months ago that code review is not about catching bugs, the most common pushback I got was a variation of the same thing: “If you’re only getting to that...
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Feb 23, 2026
Code Review Is Not About Catching Bugs

My former Parse colleague Charity Majors – now CTO of Honeycomb and one of the strongest voices in the observability space – recently posted something that caught my attention. She’s frustrated with the discourse...
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Dec 15, 2025
The Temporary Ignorance Superpower

I’m about to start a new role leading a team I’ve never worked with. After a decade at Google, I’ll be the person who doesn’t know where anything is again. I’m genuinely excited about...
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Dec 3, 2025
The Constraints That Create Autonomy

The conventional wisdom about autonomy is simple: remove constraints. Get out of people’s way. Let them figure it out. Trust them to run. But this often backfires in a specific, predictable way. Teams think...
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Oct 19, 2025
Orderly API Evolution: How to Break APIs Without Breaking Trust

I spent my baby bonding leave this summer with my newest kid — which was the point. But between feedings and naps, I also found myself trying to deeply understand coding agents and the...
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