Alex McFadyen

Alex McFadyen

London, UK
Optimistic and enthusiastic technologist, seeking out interesting ideas, projects and problems. I love what I do, and I try to help others love what they do too. (he/him)
Jul
20
Focus on concert hall, instead of the podium

Focus on concert hall, instead of the podium

The "AI Conductor" metaphor is everywhere right now, and it's wrong. The real opportunity isn't standing at the podium, it's building the hall well enough that anyone can make amazing music.
5 min read
Jun
06
From VS Code (and friends) to Zed

From VS Code (and friends) to Zed

A practical migration guide. What to install, configure, and expect. Covers extensions, settings, git, AI agents, and keyboard shortcuts.
10 min read
Apr
13
Do little things well

Do little things well

Marco Pierre White, Colin Powell and Vincent Van Gogh all agree on one thing. And it's worth remembering in the age of rampant complexity and AI.
2 min read
Mar
17
Code is the Idea, Not its Execution

Code is the Idea, Not its Execution

... and what is an idea worth? Not much without great execution.
7 min read
Mar
09
lint-staged is a hack (that you no longer need)

lint-staged is a hack (that you no longer need)

lint-staged exists because ESLint is slow. But what if your linter ran your entire repo in under a second? Time to ditch the hack.
2 min read
Mar
05
Agentic maturity models focus on the wrong thing

Agentic maturity models focus on the wrong thing

Every AI maturity model measures autonomy. YOLO mode, parallel agents, building your own orchestrator. But that's only part of the picture and an answer to the wrong question. The better question is - are you ready?
5 min read
Mar
01
Tequila vs Agentic AI

Tequila vs Agentic AI

Mitch Ratcliffe said computers let you make mistakes faster than anything except handguns and tequila. In 2026, agentic AI just pushed tequila into third place.
3 min read
Dec
12
Your Context Budget

Your Context Budget

Humans and AI can only hold so much in their head. So what do you spend your budget on? Its very easy for teams to end up in debt and paying heavy interest.
8 min read
Nov
24
Weaponising Jevons Paradox

Weaponising Jevons Paradox

Making things easier doesn't just save time, it can increase frequency. Here's how to use that to your advantage.
3 min read
Oct
27
How to Become an AI Whisperer

How to Become an AI Whisperer

You can speak 2.5x faster than you type, and AI can now transcribe perfectly on your local device. The fastest and best way to communicate with AI isn't typing, it's talking.
8 min read