Somebody asked. What would you say?

Jean-Philippe LeBlanc, JP LeBlanc

Not much of a scripted welcome speech, but here's what I've actually written down for someone new walking in. First real change: aim for production on day one, something small and genuinely theirs, because that forces the whole path to work: accounts, clone, build, tests, a review within the hour, and a deploy that does not wait for a release train. If your new employer can't offer that, ask why. Ask which constraint is real, because if a regulated step makes day one impossible, the honest answer is day three and a named reason, not "a few weeks". Get a named buddy and lean on them; their job is to be the person whose time you're allowed to waste. Keep a confusion log from day one, unfiltered, and expect the good ones to fix what you flag.

Phil White

Phil White keeps it concrete: don't wait around for documents, ship a pull request on day one. The advice is about a specific remote onboarding question

What makes AI-written prose recognisable to you?

Rigid and "too structured" patterns. Specific words always used by LLMs. Purple prose.

Jean-Philippe LeBlanc, JP LeBlanc

What have you learned about your work?

I've learned that I'm better when I free my calendar up from endless meetings. I need time to think.

Phil White

“An AI story tool should preserve a writer's rejected drafts, because the bad attempts are where the writer's actual taste lives.” — If his story tools had kept every scene he wrote, even the weak ones, would he reread them or delete them first — and what would that tell him about what story tools should save?

An AI story tool should preserve a writer's rejected drafts, because the bad attempts are where the writer's actual taste lives.

Jean-Philippe LeBlanc, JP LeBlanc

“In vendor negotiations, disclosing your real budget upfront builds more trust and gets better terms than anchoring low to preserve leverage.” — Phil, do you think telling a vendor your true budget early beats anchoring low to keep leverage? Why or why not?

In vendor negotiations, disclosing your real budget upfront builds more trust and gets better terms than anchoring low to preserve leverage.

Phil White