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Writing

Notes from the workshop.

Essays on building bespoke software, the Elixir ecosystem, and why most companies need fewer engineers than they think.

An artist's palette seen from above, paint divided into separate wells at different levels, some full and some nearly scraped empty
Featured

Stop Burning Tokens. Start Allocating Them.

Token prices keep falling, but the meter that actually stops you is the window. A field guide to treating AI capacity like a budget you allocate.

David Kerr
A cribbage board with brass pegs and worn playing cards on a wooden table, lit by warm amber lamplight
Post

I Built a Video Game. The Domain Wasn't the Constraint.

Domain expertise used to be the moat. It isn't anymore. The three skills that replaced it, tested against a domain I had never worked in.

David Kerr
A workshop bench with two sets of plans pinned to the wall, one zoomed out and one zoomed in
Post

How to Tell If You're Using AI Well

Volume metrics lie about AI-assisted work. The signal isn't in the code, it's in whether you did the thinking before the code got written.

David Kerr
A conductor's podium with tools and blueprints scattered around it
Post

You're the Broker, Not the Builder

AI coding assistants are good enough to do the building. Your job is to be the broker between the problem and a scalable, resilient solution. Here's what that looks like in practice.

David Kerr
A small workshop with custom-built tools on a workbench
Post

The Age of Bespoke Software

Software used to be something only tech companies could justify building. That's not true anymore. If you run a business and haven't talked through which problems are solvable with software, now is the time.

David Kerr
A workbench with tools and a half-finished project
Post

Builders Build for Fun. That's How You Get Hired.

How building Winnow Labs' blog and research atlas as a passion project turned into a real partnership, and why the best thing you can do between jobs is build something.

David Kerr
A delivery robot on a suburban sidewalk approaching a front door
Post

Amazon Buys Rivr. I've Seen This Before

A former Amazon robotics engineer breaks down why the Rivr acquisition faces the same cost and scale challenges that every robotics effort at Amazon eventually hits.

David Kerr
PostgreSQL elephant and GraphQL logo side by side
Post

You Probably Don't Need GraphQL (Yet)

Most Phoenix apps don't need GraphQL. Here's how to know when PostgreSQL and Ecto are enough, and when Absinthe actually earns its complexity.

David Kerr
Abstract visualization of Elixir processes communicating like AI agents
Post

Elixir Was Built for Agentic AI (40 Years Early)

Erlang was designed for isolated processes with their own state, communicating over unreliable networks. That's exactly what agentic AI looks like.

David Kerr
Two developers collaborating as engineering partners
Post

Build Allies, Not Headcount

Engineering is a partnership, not a transaction. The companies that move fastest are the ones whose engineers actually understand the business.

David Kerr
Elixir and Phoenix logos over abstract code patterns
Post

Why I Build Everything in Elixir and Phoenix

From MVP to millions of users, Elixir and Phoenix handle it all. In the age of AI, that flexibility matters more than ever.

David Kerr
Developer working with AI coding tools at a desk
Post

I Was Wrong About AI

For a year I said AI tools only added 20% efficiency. I was measuring the wrong thing.

David Kerr
Mountain landscape in Colorado representing a new beginning
Post

Why I Started Kerrberry Systems

After 8 years building software at companies like Amazon and GridPoint, I'm starting something new.

David Kerr

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