I bet you are using "but" in a wrong way 😬
Learn how to use "but" like a pro, how Linux is built with Linus as it's BDFL, how Bluesky is architected, and ofc some vibe-coding predictions.
There are two things engineers do - code and communicate. As AIs will be doing more and more coding (more on how that will impact engineering below), some believe communication will become even more important for engineers than it is now.
There are two great reads on engineering communication to sharpen your communication toolbox. The top one is super short and super-concrete 😍 so jump right in.
Use "but" strategically (6 min)
This is one of those gems 💎 on communication that will take only 6 minutes to give you super practical advice you can start using immediately. You will learn how to use “but” in a smart way. As “but” has this magical power to cancel (or soften) everything that comes before it,
shares a tip to put the thing you want softened before the “but”. All is explained through very simple examples, so read on.Audience: All professionals
Value: Improve how you communicate feedback
ToT Rating: ⭐⭐🌟
How Linux is built with Greg Kroah-Hartman (10 min read, 1h 21 mins podcast)
Linux is probably one of the most successful pieces of software out there. It powers mobile phones, servers, routers, smart TVs, cars, it’s even used in the International freaking Space Station 🤯. If you want to learn more about how Linux is being built, read/watch/listen to this episode with one of the 3 Linux Kernel Foundation Fellows (the other two are Linus Torvalds and Shuah Khan).
Audience: Software Engineers
Value: Learn the development process of Linux
ToT Rating: ⭐⭐
Why I'm No Longer Talking to Architects About Microservices (7 min)
Ian Miell
The term microservice is almost 15 years old 🤯👴. It is quite funny to read that in 2025, still no one agrees on what "microservice" means. This article talks about challenges engineers can face when discussing microservices. It is a bit of a digression, but I found this quote from the article that reflects on the origins of the term “DevOps” and its current usage hilarious:
DevOps
Originally a rejection of the standard separation of development and operation teams, it became perfectly normal to talk about separate and centralised ‘DevOps teams’ centred around deployment tooling
Audience: Software Engineers / Software Architects
Value: Learn about the problems of microservices
ToT Rating: ⭐⭐
Bluesky: The Decentralized Social Media App with 30 Million Users (12 min)
Bluesky is a social platform that is a bit more than 2 years old. Their motto is that “Social media is too important to be controlled by a few corporations” and their architecture reflects this. It enables users to decide where their social media content is stored and how they will view the content of other users. Decentralizing a social network is not a simple engineering feat and this article will tell you all about the complexities involved.
Audience: Software Engineers
Value: Learn about the architecture of Bluesky
ToT Rating: ⭐⭐
What engineers get wrong about communication (11 min)
Engineers can sometimes fall into certain communication patterns that lead to undesired outcomes. They can get caught up in technical details so much to completely forget why they are building what they are building. They forget about customers, which almost always leads to unsuccessful projects.
Some might hoard knowledge, which leads to a high bus factor and bad team culture.
Often, I see examples where an engineer feels that their job is only to surface data and that decisions should be made by EMs or PMs. So they draft large documents with a tremendous amount of information and zero opinions.
It also happens that engineers are not making sure to “bring everyone along” when communicating. They communicate as if everyone in the audience has the same amount of context as they do.
This article is a good digest of all those communication traps that engineers often fall into.
Audience: Software Engineers
Value: Improve your communication as an engineer
ToT Rating: ⭐⭐
Revisiting the Minimum Viable Product strategy and its strengths/weaknesses (12 min)
If you’ve read a few of my recent digests, you might have noticed that I am a fan of brutally de-scoping MVPs and measuring success via metrics. With the massive success of LLMs that require huge investments, effort, and time, the MVP strategy gets questioned a lot these days. I love reading content that challenges the opinions I hold, and this article is one of those. Read all about how MVP strategy can be harmful. The article is a reflection on an interview with DoorDash’s CEO.
Audience: Product Managers / Engineering Managers
Value: Learn about the weaknesses of MVP strategy
ToT Rating: ⭐
How vibe coding will affect Engineering Managers (11 min)
Vibe coding is the hot term these days. LLMs are transforming how software is created rapidly, and it is not clear how coding will look in the next several years.
is attempting to extrapolate from today and give you his best guess on how vibe coding will impact our industry.
Audience: Engineering Managers
Value: Read about the impact of vibe coding on software engineering
ToT Rating: ⭐
See you soon! 😎