Gint Grabauskas

In today's episode of The Daily CTO, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Zachariah Peterson, founder of Northwest Engineering Solutions, to dive into a topic many software CTOs face but few feel fully prepared for: the leap into hardware development. In this conversation, we explore a crucial mindset shift and 5 essential lessons to navigate the hardware space effectively, including: 1. Understanding the real costs and timelines of hardware prototyping 2. Navigating complex compliance requirements for physical products 3. Selecting reliable components that won’t disrupt production 4. Integrating hardware and software seamlessly to create cohesive products 5. Managing production timelines and building scalable, compliant solutions With his deep expertise in hardware consultancy, Zach sheds light on why hardware requires a more deliberate approach than the agile, iterative nature of software. #thedailycto #software #hardware

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When there is great uncertainty, there can't be predictability to any useful level. We have to reduce uncertainty to where it can be managed effectively, and we do this by running experiments... trying things. Does the stakeholder like what we've done? Does the customer like what we've done? Are we solving the problem that customers have? This puts us in the 'complex' quadrant of the Cynefin Model, where we have to try and (perhaps) fail, perhaps repeatedly, until we know enough. Yet, we still have a goal in mind and we at least know the first few things that need to get done... or the first thing we need to test to determine feasibility. Apple knew that unless it could source a ruggedized hard drive that would withstand being carried and occasionally dropped, the iPod would not be successful... so getting a commitment from Western Digital (who had been working on such a drive and was almost ready to ship) was the key decision point. The Wright Brothers knew that unless they could figure out a way to turn their airplane without 'skidding' and stalling a wing (a problem that had killed many of their inventive contemporaries) they couldn't build a safe airplane... oh, and find a lightweight, powerful-enough motor while you're at it. It all comes down to reaching decision points: do we know enough to know whether to continue, or whether to cancel our effort? In the example below (waterproofing a below-ground basement), we are going to have to continue. Therefore, we want to continue only at the pace at which we are certain of the decisions we're making. Is what we're doing working? If so, do more! If not, do something else. That is exactly what the contractor did in the post below, making 'MVP' experiments until the path to success was clear, until they had the 'Aha!' moment. So, when do we get predictability with useful accuracy? At the 'Aha!' moment. Figure out what 'Aha!' moments are needed, devise experiments to reach those moments and drive enough uncertainty out (you'll never get to zero) to where the range of uncertainty is acceptable. #predictability #forecasting #estimation #commitment #agile #planning #riskmanagement #projectmanagement

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Totally agree with Dan DiGangi here. If you don't understand the overall strategy of a business, it's hard for you to align and be fully effective. This goes from leadership down to engineering. What are you doing to try and understand that vision? Link in comments to the full interview with Dan!

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Scaling a business effectively often requires more than just adding new hires. The traditional approach of growing teams to drive growth can lead to increased communication challenges, slower decision-making, and diminished productivity. Instead of focusing solely on expanding headcount, it’s crucial to optimize existing resources and leverage technology. AI, for example, can automate repetitive tasks and enhance efficiency, allowing smaller teams to achieve more without the added complexity of a larger workforce. By adopting a leaner approach and integrating smart tech solutions, businesses can scale effectively and drive impressive results. #BusinessGrowth #AI #Efficiency

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I learned some cool things about software used in the solar industry at RE+ from some really smart software engineers and I thought I would share about the products they are building. Arvin Ansari from https://jasmine.energy explained to me how his YC backed software company is helping enable the sale of carbon certificates for solar panel owners to large corporations via the block chain. It's truly remarkable how they handle a large amount of capital. Also, Greg Eisenberg from Aurora Solar showed off the https://lnkd.in/evdQZEsQ tool that they have built for solar installers installing commercial jobs. They used a variety of map apis to help installers determine how to wire up their solar panels and distribute them on a roof. They truly are industry leaders for software in the solar industry building very interesting solutions.

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The best use case for overseas development I've heard: We have customers in the eastern hemisphere. To support those customers better, we're standing up product, dev, and support teams to help serve those customers needs. Two key ingredients in making that successful: commensurate pay and the same level of performance and accountability as US peers. #software #international #teammanagement #overseasdevelopment #startup #leadership #coaching

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If you're wondering, 'Tacos again, Matt?' the answer is 'yep.' Because, honestly, they continue to be a great way to think about the interplay between human factors, optimization, and guac-to-sour-cream ratios. So here's the second installment in my series on the things a well run taco restaurant can teach us about efficient complex systems (which is also a sneak peek into the kinds of problems we're solving at Fixify and—hopefully—a helpful way to think about some of your own complex-systems quandaries, too.) https://lnkd.in/e48K257N

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Over the winter break, I worked on a fun and exciting project: https://mygridcheck.com MyGridCheck is a real-time power outage tracking system designed for the Puget Sound region. It aggregates data from multiple utility providers to offer a comprehensive and user-friendly view of power outages in the area. Whether you’re in Seattle, Tacoma, or anywhere around the Sound, MyGridCheck helps you stay informed about disruptions in your local power grid. This project builds on the foundation of my previous effort for Peninsula Light's service area, and has grown to support multiple utility providers: • Peninsula Light Company (PenLight): Serving Gig Harbor, Fox Island, and the Key Peninsula • Puget Sound Energy (PSE): Covering multiple counties in Western Washington. • Seattle City Light (SCL): Serving the Seattle metro area. • Tacoma Power: Covering Tacoma and nearby areas. • Snohomish County PUD: Serving Snohomish County and Camano Island. I utilized a modern stack to bring this project to life: • SvelteKit and TypeScript for building a responsive and fast user interface. • Leaflet/Mapbox for dynamic mapping and visualization. • Redis for caching data to ensure performance at scale. • TailwindCSS for creating an intuitive and accessible design. MyGridCheck reflects my passion for leveraging technology to solve real-world problems. If you’re in the Puget Sound area, I’d love to hear how tools like this could make a difference in your daily life. I have a feeling we are due for some snow and other weather before Winter is over. Check it out and let me know what you think! #SoftwareEngineering #FrontendDevelopment #SvelteKit #TypeScript #PowerOutages #DataAggregation #MappingTech #Redis #PugetSound #Innovation #TailwindCSS #UtilityTech #RealTimeTracking #PenLight #PSE #Seattle

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There is no one DevRel. This is clear when you look at the variety of Job Titles from those who practice Developer Relations from the recently released 2024 State of DevRel Report. What is important is that the teams work together to support developers in their journey of discovering, adopting, and scaling with your tool. It has been nice to see the trend over the last 11 years of the report that the term "Developer Relations" is showing up in the job titles. Find out more at: https://lnkd.in/gFenwJit

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Anthropic released another paper on their ongoing work towards interpretability of large foundational models like their Claude 3 family, built on previous work by many. Their work continues to be enlightening and inspiring. The findings in this work are generally similar to previous findings on smaller models but scaled up to Claude 3 Sonnet: 💡 they find large numbers of "features" corresponding to combinations of neuron activations and these features map to concepts that we recognize/understand: for example, features for transit infrastructure, particular people, concepts (like bias and "objects lacking sentience"). This might sound familiar from classical machine learning, but the interesting thing is that there is no single thing/neuron encoding each of these concepts, it's a particular combination of neuron activations that embeds these concepts in "superposition" in the network. 💡they observe a sort of "distance" of these feature activations that arrange themselves "near" semantically similar features. When they use their sparse autoencoder approach to learn more and more features they observe that the level of abstraction in the detected features becomes more granular, in ways that are interpretable and meaningful. 💡when they artificially fire these activation patterns during inference, it affects the output in ways that relate to the "feature". For example, asking Claude "what's the most interesting science" normally it responds Physics, but if you clamp the feature activations for the feature "Brain Science" to 10x their max values then Claude responds: Neuroscience. Ways to interpret _and_ influence the model. Great readable work [1] along with an interactive explorer of some of the "features" themselves [2] 🎂 There's an easter egg too: if you scroll in the feature explorer tool and try and select one of the "Randomly selected features from 1M" you get a message "if you want to see the rest of the features, we're hiring!" with a link to their recruiting page :) [1] https://lnkd.in/gZbparwp [2] https://lnkd.in/gC9eus53

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We call this self integration - Coming soon. Tyne integrations can utilize any API documentation, read all functions, create and execute code within minutes instead of weeks which reduces manual labor significantly. For example, we created 80 functions from the Spotify API on single thread in just 10 minutes, a process that typically takes weeks. With multi-threading, this could be even faster. #innovation #digitalmarketing #technology #creativity #Future #futurism #Entrepreneurship #Markets #Startups #Marketing #SocialMedia #VentureCapital #SocialNetworking #LeanStartups #Economy #Economics #sustainability #healthcare #education #design #sales #supplychain #retail #data #top #recent #best #LinkedIn #AI #Automation #Intelligence #Analytics #Artificial #Machine #startup

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Three Articles From 2024 That Will Stick With Me in 2025 1. "I Will Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again" by Nikhil Suresh ⮑ https://lnkd.in/eC7q9ZWn 2. "Godot Isn’t Making It" by Ed Zitron ⮑ https://lnkd.in/e294rHXc 3. "Casual Viewing" by Will Tavlin for n+1 ⮑ https://lnkd.in/eRq_mZjh --- ⚠️ Before reading these, you may want to install Advanced Profanity Filter, a reputable, open source plug-in for your web browser that respects your privacy. - Download: https://lnkd.in/eCNMd3Y7 - GitHub > PRIVACY-dot-md - https://lnkd.in/e2frG_Ee And here's a pic of a new friend of mine so LinkedIn doesn't re-post a preview of the first URL.

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I’m honored to kick off this series with none other than Barry Jones a fractional CTO with 22+ years of experience, to tackle a topic that so many teams struggle with: Why software estimation is broken. Episode: https://lnkd.in/gF5H29Sb In this episode, Barry breaks down: Why story points often do more harm than good The confusion and misalignment they create between teams and stakeholders A smarter way to approach estimation by focusing on task breakdowns and measuring queues instead. If you’re a CTO, developer, or product manager, you’ll benefit from Barry’s practical tips for improving your development process and avoiding the common pitfalls of traditional estimation methods. Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

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Santana Row shopping center in San Jose has implemented a ticketless parking system that eliminates the need for drivers to take a ticket upon entry and pay at a pay station upon exit. Instead, drivers can simply scan a QR code (see photo) posted throughout the garage using their phones, enter their license plate number and credit card information on the website that pops up, and a camera will read their license plate and open the gate as they exit. While this system may seem convenient and efficient, I think there is a significant security concern! There is a risk that perpetrators could replace the posted QR code with their own, which would redirect drivers to a fake website where they would unknowingly enter their credit card information. This could lead to unauthorized charges and potential identity theft. It is crucial for the shopping center to address this security concern by taking appropriate measures to protect drivers' personal and financial information. They must ensure that the QR codes posted are authentic and that there are no vulnerabilities that could allow perpetrators to manipulate the system. As an alternative solution, pay stations could be installed for shoppers to use instead of relying on their own phones.

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Few agencies without a technical lead are able to get by (and none thrive). Relying on contractors can be a double-edged sword: they bring specialized skills but often lack a cohesive vision that aligns technology with your customer’s long-term goals. This disconnect results in software bloat, where unnecessary features and technical debt pile up. The pain is real: without a consistent, forward-thinking approach, your business is at risk of compounding technical debt that will stifle innovation. Don’t let short-term fixes lead to long-term problems. It’s time to rethink how you approach technology, ensuring it supports—not stifles—your growth.

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I've been wondering how much more productive our team would have been 25 years ago, writing and maintaining the millions of lines of code it took to build INEA, had we been able to leverage AI (from coding assistants to intelligent agents). What transformational capabilities could we have provided the big banks that were our customers? How much faster could we have iterated? How much lower could our cost base have been? I can promise that if I were building another company today to tackle a complex enterprise application, it would look fundamentally different than the one we built. It would be leaner, faster to market, and strive to be breathtakingly nimble. Oh, and it would require far less capital. We need to rethink the way we build software companies ... H/T to the INEA team: Andrew Beck, Joydeb Ray, Ray Payette, Peter Ng, Misho Katulic, Kim Crouse, Greg Dimmock, Jason Rose, Emily Koolen, Mark Erdmann and so many more amazing people ...

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