Posts from 2024

December 31, 2024

As 2024 comes to a close, I've been reflecting on my entrepreneurial journey and all the partnerships I've been through. In summary: - Seven businesses, - Two decades of experience and, - Only two of...

September 28, 2024

Today I want to spill the beans on how we manage our remote teams at my small software company. After years of trial and error, we've found some practices that really work for us. Let me break it down...

September 26, 2024

I've got something that's been buzzing in my brain for a while now. After 20+ years in the software development trenches, working with countless teams and projects, I've come to a pretty good conclusi...

September 24, 2024

I've been in the trenches of software development for years, and now I'm building a venture studio with multiple apps. Today, I want to talk about something crucial that often gets overlooked, especia...

September 23, 2024

I've been coding software for 23 years, and let me tell you, I've seen my fair share of dumb specifications. But don't worry, I'm here to help you spot them and make them better. This post is for non-...

September 21, 2024

Software projects usually go like this: - You never know everything upfront - But... you still have to start - You figure things out along the way It's quite like any real time strategy game with fog...

September 18, 2024

Are you a aspiring product manager looking to gain hands-on experience in software development and management? Or do you know someone who fits this description? If so, I have an exciting opportunity t...

September 17, 2024

Today, I'm doing a speed run through all kinds of problems that occur in software development. I've been coding software since I was 16 or 17, so it's been 23 years now. I wanted to give a good over...

September 10, 2024

As a senior developer and agency owner who also works as a Product Manager (PM) on in-house products, I've seen both sides of the product development coin. I've noticed that many PMs struggle to work...

September 8, 2024

As a technical product manager who leads software teams in my own company, I've worked with many product managers throughout my career. I've noticed a clear distinction between junior and senior PMs,...

September 7, 2024

Earlier this year we needed an intermediate PM. We found one who was available: . We hired him to fix a project and also teach some non-obvious principles to the PMs of my team. This post is a summary...

September 5, 2024

As a software developer with 23 years of experience, I've seen my fair share of user interfaces. One pattern that consistently comes up in web applications is the wizard - a step-by-step interface gui...

September 4, 2024

I just saw a case where I strongly disagree with using a database: For time series, in this case. In the end I show a better way to deal with deterministic time series data. This blog will show: - Wha...

September 3, 2024

In this video, you'll learn how to run GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) prompts on many files simultaneously. This technique is particularly useful for automating code analysis and quality che...

September 2, 2024

In this blog post, I'll show you our process for creating MVPs quickly and cost-effectively. While other startups might spend $10,000 for a presentation, we accomplish this for less than $500. We'll o...

September 1, 2024

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September 1, 2024

Hook Proof Preview Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Summary / System to download <!-- New structure! Hook Proof Preview Point 1 Point 2 Point 3... Summary / System to download e.g. youtube prep sheet. > My na...

September 1, 2024

Hook Proof Preview Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Summary / System to download <!-- New structure! Hook Proof Preview Point 1 Point 2 Point 3... Summary / System to download e.g. youtube prep sheet. > My na...

September 1, 2024

This is not the list I would have written when I started out. Over time, I noticed that there are things that only have an upside. And almost no downside. These are the things we should do more. Becau...

August 29, 2024

Sometimes I get cold applications from people who want to work for us. These are usually the most eager ones. One of them just came in: > Can you advise how much the role of an ROR developer is in dem...

August 28, 2024

I just had a call with a client's developer. They wanted to take over the development of a tool we've built for them. They asked me if they should stick with our branching setup or not. We use and it...

August 27, 2024

I make this video specifically for the juniors who apply to my company. They often don't understand this picture - but they should! That's why I'm writing down the most important rules for git rebase...

August 23, 2024

This morning, I stumbled upon a Hacker News post that got me thinking. It was about an app called "Grandma's Word" - a simple word guessing game. But it wasn't the app itself that caught my attention....

August 22, 2024

Ever felt like your software project was moving at a snail's pace? I've been there. But what if I told you there's a way to dramatically speed things up without burning out your team? Enter the world...

August 21, 2024

Got a startup idea? Think you need to code an MVP? Think again. > Hi, I'm Till Carlos. My ultimate goal is to get you ship software projects faster, in higher quality, and with less cost. You can prob...

August 18, 2024

In April and May of this year, I did something crazy: I tracked every single minute of my work time for 40 days straight. Why? Because I jumped back into a struggling client project as a developer - s...

August 15, 2024

I sometimes have to clean up overly complex code. Only to rewrite it myself, in an even worse way. (It's harder to follow your own principles than to teach other. So I write this to remind myself, and...

August 14, 2024

Ever burned yourself or your team with too many changes at once? It's a surefire way to fail. One instance where we got this right is this YouTube channel. The team behind it iterates on every change,...

August 12, 2024

Deadlines are important. They focus us. They bring a team together. In fact, reaching deadlines with your team is one of the best experiences. There's nothing quite like the rush of adrenaline and sen...

August 10, 2024

Earlier this year we required out dev teams to make technical sketches. And this works out really well. I'll show you how. > My name is Till Carlos and I document how my development teams become more...

August 9, 2024

Ever wonder why some software projects soar while others stumble right out of the gate? After 15+ years in the trenches, I've identified six make-or-break decisions that can set the trajectory for you...

August 8, 2024

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Diana Vidstrom (), an experienced product manager with a technical background. She agreed to brainstorm our product idea, and man, did I learn a lot. Here...

August 6, 2024

Ever overheard someone bragging about juggling multiple projects? I have. Just this morning, I listened to two friends one-upping each other about their project count. Three projects! No, four! There...

August 5, 2024

A person in my network reached out. He got an inquiry to create an MVP. He doesn't run an agency, but he has the technical skills to pull it off. So I coached him through the next steps. And in this b...

August 2, 2024

In June 2024 I went to two ruby conferences in Europe. I was able to hang out with some of the brightest people in the ruby community. Recently many other frameworks and languages gained popularity. T...

August 1, 2024

In June 2024 I went to two ruby conferences in Europe. Therefore I had access to a lot of brilliant people: - Senior Engineers - Architects of important packages - Rails core contributors Given the ri...

July 31, 2024

In June 2024 I went to two ruby conferences in Europe. As I was meeting many smart engineers, I wondered: Everyone is making projects. But only some of them actually succeed. - What were some of your...

July 29, 2024

We are just building a new MVP for a partnership product. After years of running my agency building apps, I know how important it is to debug data - early on. Especially we want to have insights into...

July 27, 2024

"Your database model is not good enough." That's what my university professor from 2010 would say, if he would see this. But I want to make a case about pragmatism. > My name is Till Carlos and I docu...

July 26, 2024

There are many approaches to building an MVP, but one element should always be prioritized: database modeling. And I advocate for doing this early. After building dozens of apps for clients we found o...

July 24, 2024

In today's competitive tech landscape, we often hear phrases like "[our language] doesn't have enough Juniors." or "There's a shortage of decent developers." As a business owner and product developmen...

July 23, 2024

In June 2024 I went to two ruby conferences in Europe. Ruby, is a mature language by now. Most attendees were senior developers, architects, and team leads. The perfect crowd to ask an important quest...

July 22, 2024

Do you need a knowledge base tool for your team? And you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars for Notion? Then you can give a try. And this tutorial shows how to install it on a server. > My name...

July 20, 2024

In June 2024 I went to two ruby conferences in Europe. Ruby on Rails is a mature framework. Most attendees were senior developers, architects, and team leads. But, lately other languages have gained s...

July 18, 2024

Making simple solutions is hard. Especially if you are the one implementing it. Yesterday I found a good question to ask oneself. It helps us stop overengineering. If you work with developer, this can...

July 17, 2024

This happened today: the full page heavily relies on hotwire. The client wants a dynamic page with a long form. It's impossible to not rely on a complex frontend framework. The site won't work without...

July 17, 2024

Perfectionism. It happens to the best of us. There's an eye-opening short video on YouTube. It helped me see when a solution is good enough. > My name is Till Carlos, and in my agency I lead team of e...

July 16, 2024

My workflow with gitlab is a bit different from other developers. In this post I show the trick I use to code more effeciently. This is especially good for part-time developers, or if you work on mult...

July 15, 2024

In today's digital landscape, creating exceptional user experiences is paramount for any successful product or service. Recently, I had a interview with my friend Jon Myers, a seasoned UX designer wit...

June 25, 2024

As software developers, we all dream of smooth, error-free deployments. But the harsh realities of production environments often throw unexpected challenges our way. How can we ensure our software is...

June 17, 2024

Employees often don't follow process. Especially not, if there's time pressure. And for sure not, if nobody checks on them. Good news: it's possible with a couple of tricks. Tricks that Irina Rokosz j...

June 14, 2024

In a recent interview, successful entrepreneur Ankur shared valuable insights from his experience building and managing a portfolio of 37 profitable online products. His advice is particularly relevan...

June 6, 2024

I always underestimated how hard SaaS would be. My two failed startup attempts had pre-sales, but never made it past 1k MRR. Then I met John Reineck built two successful SaaS startups. And I saw what...

May 6, 2024

Tips for Tiny Teams That is: one Product Owner + one Developer Notes from my interview with PLM consultant . Specify it right There's a sweet spot in specifying: Over-specifying kills momentum, while...

March 4, 2024

Improving DevEx means addressing several time sinks in the development process: - Time to write the first code: How quickly can a new developer start contributing? - Time for running tests: Are your t...

March 1, 2024

The Journey from Launch to Scale Imagine launching a food delivery app that becomes an overnight sensation. Orders are pouring in, but with the surge, your app begins to lag, transforming success into...

February 1, 2024

<!-- this is clearly writte by chatgpt. Serves as a placeholder for now. --> In our quest to systemize our agency, we embarked on a search for the perfect "Agency Playbook." However, what we found wer...

February 1, 2024

Quality is an accumulation of subsequent right decisions. This chain of events leads to a great product. If one part is broken, a feature might only work part of the time. Or a software is slow. Or da...

January 30, 2024

How a small project team can notify stakeholders of new releases, with minimal effort. I can still recall working in a 10 person software team. Every release was meticulously planned and could not fai...

January 15, 2024

Pilots use a checklist before taking off. Common sense, right? Then why not use a checklist for going live with your software? We are using these points in my software company for bringing new softwar...

January 9, 2024

Customer personas are overrated. Get them done as fast as possible. Move on. Disclaimer: this is heavily inspired by the initial article on the . I couldn't access it any more, so I made sure the cont...