7 weeks since a weeknote. Life updates will come at the end. First, this week: #
The whole team is (finally!) focusing on the product K and I have been building for the last two months and we’re planning to do a launch. We’re moving to a new codebase and a new paradigm of defining these LLM-first workflows - DAGs, and not state machines, will be a first class citizen here. #
We’re doing a two week offsite in Goa (one week down!), and all of us are cooped up in a single villa. We’re getting to know each other really well. Since the move to defining this new product has coincided nicely with our time here, we’ve been doing more conversations than ever. #
Engineering teams have always dealt with problems of knowledge silos. When LLMs are doing the work and code reviews are a historic relic, this is even more pressing. The larger problem here is not one of knowledge dispersal, but rather that different folks learn differently (and this *is* fundamentally a learning strategy problem). Some people might prefer to learn by doing a synchronous Friday afternoon call where we all present what we’ve been doing all week, but if I have to attend a call like that I will probably scream. I would prefer if people dropped notes about interesting things from the week, but other people might view it as an unnecessary chore and just produce slop, and still others might simply not read such a document. This feels like it is not a solved problem, but I would appreciate pointers on what people have seen as successes work in their organisations. #
Last weekend was the healthiest I’ve been in a while. Goa always does that to me, I thought…until I arrived at the Airbnb on Monday, which was so chock-full of dust mites (not dust, remember) that I had such a horrible stuffed nose and bad throat and headache and the whole works. That’s when I discovered that it’s actually Nats’ home, and not Goa, that had been the antidote I needed all along. Well, now that I have made this discovery, let’s just say that spare bed will be getting a lot more use :) #
I have written about perfect Goa days before; last weekend was another such. How do I know when I’m home? When there is a kitchen that is mine. Nats’ condiment drawer puts mine to shame, her fridge gives me life, and I made - casually - about 6 different lovely things over the span of two days. #
Goa is also good for movement - I ran 1.5k on Sat, did pickleball for 1ish hour on Tue and Fri, ran a 3k on Wed in no small part thanks to Devanjal, did a bunch of laps in the pool yesterday… #
What’s been bad: I feel like I’m not getting enough veggies, I’m *definitely* not eating enough seafood, my ankle isn’t recovering the greatest, the allergies are still very much present, just not as flagrant, and I may be catching a viral. #
I sang last night after forever. Of course I did Zombie (The Cranberries), for a crowd. What a magical feeling. But now it’s the next morning and my throat feels worse and more hoarse. One day, when I have more money and time than I do now, I am going to go to a vocal coach and discover that its true! there really is no way to undo the damage I did to my voice all those years ago. But maybe there will be a way to sing with what I have now and have it not hurt as much? #
I love fresh Urrak. #
I have gotten better at riding the two wheeler. Maybe I’ll give it another go in Bangalore. #
I have been missing my car more than I’ve been missing my room. I’ve shared rooms often. My car is mine. #
I am currently reading #
[a] Atmosphere - taylor jenkins ried
[a] All eyes on us - a cheating murder mystery that becomes queer somehow I think?
[a, k] Come as you are
[k] If on a winter’s night a traveller
[m] A life in trans activism - A Revathi’s latest memoir
[m] Expansive love - a book on relationahip anarchy
[m] SICP
[b] A Dalit Kitchen of Marathwada
[b] Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh #
This list is sorted by platform - [a]udiobook, [m]oon+ reader, [k]indle and physical [b]ook. I’m also reading one physical book on loneliness that’s on my coffee table but it’s on my coffee table so I almost never have time for it (and also I have forgotten what it’s called). Thanks Nats, for foisting the last two physical books on me, with permission to annotate in the margins and the nice pen to do it with! #
The boys at work listen to entirely too much Hindi hip hop. I’m not complaining very loudly, though. #
Enjoyed Arima Ederra’s A Rush to Nowhere, Paris Paloma’s Miyazaki (that woman can do no wrong), Arlo Park’s Get Go. #
Spent a solid two weeks OBSESSED with Hillary Duff’s luck… or something. #
Harry Style’s Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally was alright. It could have been More. It felt like he held back, with the production. #
I have not yet made time for the new RAYE album and this fact makes me very sad. The single (and its video) was perfection. #