Writing  ·  the long file

Essays, field notes, and the occasional quiet argument.

A small, intentionally slow publication about building AI systems that behave — and about the organizational, not technical, reasons they usually don't.1 Most pieces take months. Some take years. One is still in draft from 2022.

no search box on purpose. the archive is short enough to scroll.
Featured  ·  April 2026  ·  14 min read

Compassion, not empathy.

Empathy was the workshop. Compassion is the work. An argument against the most comfortable word in the product manager's vocabulary — and a quiet case for what to do instead, on a Tuesday, in a real room, with real tradeoffs.

Part essay, part field note from a decade of watching teams reach for "empathy" the way a dentist reaches for nitrous. Warm about people, cold about process.

§  Archive

Everything, roughly chronological.

§  About this archive

Modest metrics, honestly reported.

Published
24 pieces
Drafts in limbo
31 (yes)
Newsletter
None on purpose
Editing bias
Cuts first, always

— This site deliberately avoids tracking, popups, and "related posts" — if a piece didn't earn your full attention, the fix is to write a better piece, not to rig the sidebar.2

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