leadership
19 articlesYour AI Is a Thinking Partner. You're Using It as a Search Engine.
Most leaders ask AI for answers. The ones gaining a real edge ask it to think with them. Here's the five-mode framework that makes that partnership work.
Fred Mann
Frederick G. Mann hired me when I was a college kid in 1995 and changed the trajectory of my life. He passed away on February 13, 2026.
The hidden lesson of Richard Socher's career: AI makes engineering discipline more valuable, not less
Richard Socher built the research that powers today's AI coding assistants and then described exactly how organizations should use them. His 'managers of AI' fr
From Tool to Team: Managing AI as Distributed Engineering
When you're running multiple AI sessions in parallel, you're not using a tool anymore — you're managing a team. The skills that matter shift accordingly.
Synthesis Project Management
A lightweight project management system for human-AI collaboration. Designed for context preservation across conversation sessions and context compaction events
What is Synthesis Engineering?
Synthesis engineering is a professional discipline for human-AI collaboration on complex work. Not just better prompting — a systematic approach with princ...
Building ownwords: A Synthesis Coding Case Study
What separates synthesis coding from vibe coding isn''t the tools — it''s the decisions. This technical case study walks through the architectural choices,...
The Synthesis Engineering Framework: How Organizations Build Production Software with AI
From individual practice to organizational capability: a systematic approach to human-AI collaboration in professional software development This blog post ...
Every Year, Restart in Your Current Job
The practice of approaching your current role as if you were just hired: listening tours, relationship building, fresh eyes on old problems.
A Conversation with Daniel Kahneman
What I learned from an hours-long conversation with Daniel Kahneman about the human brain, intuition, emotional intelligence, chess, and artificial intelligence
A CEO's Guide to Working with CTOs and CPOs
What non-technical CEOs should expect from their technology and product leaders, how to evaluate them, and what they need from you to succeed.
The Room Where the Story Was Told
A leadership fable about what happens when a capable executive assumes results speak for themselves, and discovers that someone else has been narrating his orga
Choosing the Right Boss
A leadership fable about how the relationship with your direct manager determines your career more than the company, the title, or the compensation.
The Fable of the Illusory Truth
A leadership fable about how repeated narratives become accepted truths in organizations, and how one leader fought back with data, discipline, and a better sto
How Stakeholders and PDE Should Work Together
The relationship between business stakeholders and product teams is broken at most companies. Here is a framework for how it should actually work.
OKRs in Media Companies
OKRs work differently in media than in pure tech companies. The editorial side creates unique challenges. Here is what I learned implementing them at the Wall S
The Role of a CPTO
What a Chief Product and Technology Officer does, why the role exists, and why engineering, product, and design should be separate disciplines under one leader.
IT Culture vs. Product Culture
Most media and publishing companies think they have a product culture. They have an IT culture with product titles. Here is how to tell the difference.
Moving to San Jose and Becoming a VP at 26
Reflections on moving from Philadelphia to San Jose to become VP of Engineering at Knight Ridder Digital at age 26.