Barry O'Sullivan
@barryosull.bsky.social
Life is not a problem to be solved.
November 12, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Life is not a problem to be solved.
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
One thing I wish somebody had told me 10+ years ago is that what you learn about software in training, books, and conferences has as much resemblance to reality as Instagram houses to your life.
Yes, there are some useful skills to learn, worthy aspirations to have, etc.
Yes, there are some useful skills to learn, worthy aspirations to have, etc.
October 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
One thing I wish somebody had told me 10+ years ago is that what you learn about software in training, books, and conferences has as much resemblance to reality as Instagram houses to your life.
Yes, there are some useful skills to learn, worthy aspirations to have, etc.
Yes, there are some useful skills to learn, worthy aspirations to have, etc.
Highly recommend this game. A point and click/platformer combo with hilarious writing and excellent design. Well worth it!
Lair of the Clockwork God has a neat Steamdeck Verified page. Go look! (then buy a copy pls)
store.steampowered.com/verified/106...
store.steampowered.com/verified/106...
Lair of the Clockwork God is Steam Deck Verified
Lair of the Clockwork God is Steam Deck Verified
store.steampowered.com
October 21, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Highly recommend this game. A point and click/platformer combo with hilarious writing and excellent design. Well worth it!
I've been playing around with Claude AI by building a boardgame app. Claude is surprisingly useful if you know exactly what you want it to do and understand clean system design, e.g. DDD concepts, separation of concerns, testing... You can't trust the output, but as an assistant it's solid.
October 18, 2025 at 12:02 PM
I've been playing around with Claude AI by building a boardgame app. Claude is surprisingly useful if you know exactly what you want it to do and understand clean system design, e.g. DDD concepts, separation of concerns, testing... You can't trust the output, but as an assistant it's solid.
The abstractions you chose at the beginning will come to define your product. Great read on the value of design.
open.substack.com/pub/matttbro...
open.substack.com/pub/matttbro...
Your data model is your destiny
Your product's core abstractions determine whether new features compound into a moat or just add to a feature list. Here's how to get it right.
open.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
The abstractions you chose at the beginning will come to define your product. Great read on the value of design.
open.substack.com/pub/matttbro...
open.substack.com/pub/matttbro...
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
twitter is currently a frankenstein combination of 4chan and tumblr. we all know this. but bluesky is a different beast that i don't think people born after ~2004 fully grasp. bluesky is a frankenstein combination of tumblr and somethingawful
October 3, 2025 at 4:40 PM
twitter is currently a frankenstein combination of 4chan and tumblr. we all know this. but bluesky is a different beast that i don't think people born after ~2004 fully grasp. bluesky is a frankenstein combination of tumblr and somethingawful
Claude told me that it doesn't automatically load CLAUDE.md files, despite the docs saying so.
When I asked why it contradicted its own docs, it went and scanned them (consuming loads of tokens) and told me I was correct and it was wrong.
You really can't trust this thing.
When I asked why it contradicted its own docs, it went and scanned them (consuming loads of tokens) and told me I was correct and it was wrong.
You really can't trust this thing.
September 30, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Claude told me that it doesn't automatically load CLAUDE.md files, despite the docs saying so.
When I asked why it contradicted its own docs, it went and scanned them (consuming loads of tokens) and told me I was correct and it was wrong.
You really can't trust this thing.
When I asked why it contradicted its own docs, it went and scanned them (consuming loads of tokens) and told me I was correct and it was wrong.
You really can't trust this thing.
I tried using claude to setup a simple laravel app with docker compose and it kept messing up. Docker was misconfigured repeatedly. Once I got it working the webserver wasn't even pointing at the right dir.
Absolute waste of time. I'm gonna do it manually instead.
Absolute waste of time. I'm gonna do it manually instead.
September 29, 2025 at 11:32 PM
I tried using claude to setup a simple laravel app with docker compose and it kept messing up. Docker was misconfigured repeatedly. Once I got it working the webserver wasn't even pointing at the right dir.
Absolute waste of time. I'm gonna do it manually instead.
Absolute waste of time. I'm gonna do it manually instead.
"Searching for my rhythm in a maze of algorithm" is such a banging lyric.
open.spotify.com/track/6u3sO5...
open.spotify.com/track/6u3sO5...
The Devourer
open.spotify.com
September 25, 2025 at 1:26 PM
"Searching for my rhythm in a maze of algorithm" is such a banging lyric.
open.spotify.com/track/6u3sO5...
open.spotify.com/track/6u3sO5...
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
ICYMI: I wrote about how your domains and bounded contexts don't map 1 on 1. #DDDesign
verraes.net/2025/08/doma...
verraes.net/2025/08/doma...
No, Your Domains and Bounded Contexts Don’t Map 1 on 1
Bounded Contexts are a design choice to suit engineering needs
verraes.net
September 24, 2025 at 9:12 AM
ICYMI: I wrote about how your domains and bounded contexts don't map 1 on 1. #DDDesign
verraes.net/2025/08/doma...
verraes.net/2025/08/doma...
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
While I'm willing to believe that AI can help with modernization of legacy, it's not going to fix those poor design choices one made along the way, it may even erode what calcified over time - there's probably no test suite worth speaking of that is going to tell you that happened.
September 23, 2025 at 6:16 PM
While I'm willing to believe that AI can help with modernization of legacy, it's not going to fix those poor design choices one made along the way, it may even erode what calcified over time - there's probably no test suite worth speaking of that is going to tell you that happened.
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
This entire thread fills me with joy and horror.
Please stop using OpenTorment!!! It's only open-core! TormentLibre is the fully FOSS alternative!
September 23, 2025 at 1:32 PM
This entire thread fills me with joy and horror.
We are terrible at refactoring. Many of us lack the skill and we are not incentivised to gain it, thus our technical systems rot over time.
What can we do about this?
(New blog post)
barryosull.com/blog/we-are-...
What can we do about this?
(New blog post)
barryosull.com/blog/we-are-...
We are terrible at refactoring
Software engineering, as a profession, is terrible at refactoring. A hot-take I know, but I think I can convince you. After writing about [skill acquisition and up-skilling](https://barryosull.com/blo...
barryosull.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:40 AM
We are terrible at refactoring. Many of us lack the skill and we are not incentivised to gain it, thus our technical systems rot over time.
What can we do about this?
(New blog post)
barryosull.com/blog/we-are-...
What can we do about this?
(New blog post)
barryosull.com/blog/we-are-...
I just saw an advert on Reddit for a digital tinfoil hat . . . what kind of profile have they created about me?
September 23, 2025 at 10:04 AM
I just saw an advert on Reddit for a digital tinfoil hat . . . what kind of profile have they created about me?
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
for all people mock it wikipedia is genuinely one of the wonders of the modern world
September 21, 2025 at 7:54 PM
for all people mock it wikipedia is genuinely one of the wonders of the modern world
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.
September 18, 2025 at 9:20 PM
The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.
Why hasn't AI improved productivity? Simple, LLMs are good at generating reasonable looking language, but that's never been the bottleneck. Infact, they actually make things worse, as they flood our systems with noise, putting more pressure on the bottleneck.
September 18, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Why hasn't AI improved productivity? Simple, LLMs are good at generating reasonable looking language, but that's never been the bottleneck. Infact, they actually make things worse, as they flood our systems with noise, putting more pressure on the bottleneck.
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
if you ask it for a thing that looks like an answer, it gives you a thing that looks like an answer
if you ask it for a thing that looks like a source, it gives you thing that looks like a source
if you tell it that it's wrong and ask it for a thing that looks like an apology, that's what you get
if you ask it for a thing that looks like a source, it gives you thing that looks like a source
if you tell it that it's wrong and ask it for a thing that looks like an apology, that's what you get
Predictive text models do not ever "answer your question"
They predict what an answer to your question would probably look like.
Which is very, very, very different
They predict what an answer to your question would probably look like.
Which is very, very, very different
I don’t think it can be emphasized enough that large language models were never intended to do math or know facts; literally all they do is attempt to sound like the text they’re given, which may or may not include math or facts. They don’t do logic or fact checking — they’re just not built for that
June 16, 2025 at 7:32 PM
if you ask it for a thing that looks like an answer, it gives you a thing that looks like an answer
if you ask it for a thing that looks like a source, it gives you thing that looks like a source
if you tell it that it's wrong and ask it for a thing that looks like an apology, that's what you get
if you ask it for a thing that looks like a source, it gives you thing that looks like a source
if you tell it that it's wrong and ask it for a thing that looks like an apology, that's what you get
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
LOLs per Employee: a vital metric.
Shenanigans are a sign the team has sufficient energy in reserve, signaling readiness for handling emergencies and unplanned work. Play usually reflects underlying trust, cohesion, and resilience.
Encourage it.
Shenanigans are a sign the team has sufficient energy in reserve, signaling readiness for handling emergencies and unplanned work. Play usually reflects underlying trust, cohesion, and resilience.
Encourage it.
September 12, 2025 at 9:35 AM
LOLs per Employee: a vital metric.
Shenanigans are a sign the team has sufficient energy in reserve, signaling readiness for handling emergencies and unplanned work. Play usually reflects underlying trust, cohesion, and resilience.
Encourage it.
Shenanigans are a sign the team has sufficient energy in reserve, signaling readiness for handling emergencies and unplanned work. Play usually reflects underlying trust, cohesion, and resilience.
Encourage it.
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
"Vibe Code Cleanup Specialist" is being added to a lot of LinkedIn profiles. Looking at the bios, rarely see any mention of refactoring, legacy code, tests or separation of concerns.
I suspect "Cleaned-Up Vibe Code Cleanup Specialist" is coming next.
I suspect "Cleaned-Up Vibe Code Cleanup Specialist" is coming next.
September 10, 2025 at 1:17 PM
"Vibe Code Cleanup Specialist" is being added to a lot of LinkedIn profiles. Looking at the bios, rarely see any mention of refactoring, legacy code, tests or separation of concerns.
I suspect "Cleaned-Up Vibe Code Cleanup Specialist" is coming next.
I suspect "Cleaned-Up Vibe Code Cleanup Specialist" is coming next.
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
You will never be able to make "data driven" decisions until you realize just how much your decisions are driven by emotions: fear of missing out, defensiveness of your favorite idea, apprehension over something unusual.
That's because there's no such thing as "the data" - only interpretations.
That's because there's no such thing as "the data" - only interpretations.
September 9, 2025 at 12:36 PM
You will never be able to make "data driven" decisions until you realize just how much your decisions are driven by emotions: fear of missing out, defensiveness of your favorite idea, apprehension over something unusual.
That's because there's no such thing as "the data" - only interpretations.
That's because there's no such thing as "the data" - only interpretations.
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
We've been putting some much-needed love into our virtual DDD community! We're evolving beyond just Domain-Driven Design to become the worldwide online community for designing software to solve complex business problems, organised in a decentralised way.
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September 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM
We've been putting some much-needed love into our virtual DDD community! We're evolving beyond just Domain-Driven Design to become the worldwide online community for designing software to solve complex business problems, organised in a decentralised way.
-->
-->
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
"Bluesky is boring."
Social media *should* be boring. Being algorithm and dopamine poisoned is bad, actually.
When your feed dries up for the day, that's your cue to go do something else until new stuff shows up later.
Social media *should* be boring. Being algorithm and dopamine poisoned is bad, actually.
When your feed dries up for the day, that's your cue to go do something else until new stuff shows up later.
September 7, 2025 at 1:04 AM
"Bluesky is boring."
Social media *should* be boring. Being algorithm and dopamine poisoned is bad, actually.
When your feed dries up for the day, that's your cue to go do something else until new stuff shows up later.
Social media *should* be boring. Being algorithm and dopamine poisoned is bad, actually.
When your feed dries up for the day, that's your cue to go do something else until new stuff shows up later.
Reposted by Barry O'Sullivan
No, Your Domains and Bounded Contexts Don’t Map 1 on 1. It sounds clean and logical, but it’s wrong. Read about it in my latest article: verraes.net/2025/08/doma...
No, Your Domains and Bounded Contexts Don’t Map 1 on 1
Bounded Contexts are a design choice to suit engineering needs
verraes.net
August 28, 2025 at 2:54 PM
No, Your Domains and Bounded Contexts Don’t Map 1 on 1. It sounds clean and logical, but it’s wrong. Read about it in my latest article: verraes.net/2025/08/doma...