Thoughtful Engineering | Christine Miao | Substack

Recent posts

Developers: Stop Job Hunting like it's 2015

Tech job hunters are working with outdated playbooks.

Aug 7, 2025 • Christine Miao and Randy Brown

"Explain the Business Impact!” (And Other Useless Advice)

Why the standard playbook for tech debt prioritization fails — and what we can do instead.

Jun 24, 2025 • Christine Miao

Not using AI? You're not the problem.

Successful technology adoption requires intentional, user-centered design and research. Too many AI companies have lost sight of this.

May 21, 2025 • Christine Miao

How Good Engineers Become Bad Leaders

The way we promote and insulate software engineers often sets them up to fail dramatically as leaders. Here's how, and a better way forward.

Apr 29, 2025 • Christine Miao

How NOT to Learn AI

Why the AI hype machine really, *really* doesn't help

Apr 9, 2025 • Christine Miao

Why are Engineers so Hard to Understand?

Hint: it's not because they didn't explain the "business impact".

Mar 20, 2025 • Christine Miao

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