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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · 20d

Are you an experienced software buyer? I could use your help.

I'm working on the second edition of "Observability Engineering", and hoping to include the kind of advice an experienced principal engineer might give a staff engineer buying for the first time.

charity.wtf/2025/09/19/a...

Are you an experienced software buyer? I could use some help.

If it seems like I’ve been relatively quiet lately on social media and my blog, that’s because I have. Liz, Austin, George and I have been busy toiling away on the second edition of “Observability …

charity.wtf

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

I respect that. I don't feel like it's quite that clear cut; I feel worse about using FB/Instagram than I do X, although I wouldn't give money to other.

Everyone has to work out their own ethical response, I guess.

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Reposted by Charity Majors

Tim O'Reilly @timoreilly.bsky.social · Jul 28

Financial markets are increasingly just gambling. Why do their profits get capital gains treatment when there is no capital being provided to anyone producting anything. If we want investment in the real economy, this kind of stuff should be facing a pigovian tax. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...

Bet on or Against the Unicorns

Also the meme-stock revival, home insurance and tokenized crypto treasury companies.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Charity Majors

Honeycomb @honeycomb.io · Jul 29

Join @aparker.io, MorgantePell, and James Bland on August 14 to explore Honeycomb MCP: Your AI Agent’s New Superpower.

Learn the advantages of using the Honeycomb Hosted MCP through the new AWS Marketplace for AI Agents and Tools.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

I did, ages ago.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

There's also a supreme lack of dissenting views. Twitter was always noisy and cacophonous and full of different opinions. Here it's like a competition to be the MOST leftist and overwrought... It's exhausting.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

I'm not giving them any money, that's for sure. I feel like I've spent a solid chunk of time trying to use what influence I have to move the discussions I care about to bsky, but they aren't here. It's not happening.

Honestly, the discourse here is so lacking in diversity, it freaks me out.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

Please, tell me if you ever figure it out

Honest question...do you run into racism and bigotry on X? I never have. I believe it exists, but it hasn't been part of my experience there.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

Genuine ideological diversity is always far more interesting.

I'm pretty far on the left myself, but bsky is such an echo chamber that I find it a little unnerving.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

Yeah. Idk what to do about it. But I log in every month or two and feel like....shit, these are the conversations I really miss.

They aren't happening here, that's for sure.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

I definitely won't pay for it.

I feel like I have done what I can...announced it, encouraged others, put it in my bio. Not sure what else to do.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

Does anybody have a third party client for using both X and bsky that is more useful than hassle?

After a solid 9 month experiment, I find myself torn. Bsky is just not as interesting or engaging as the app formerly known as Twitter.

Politics has moved to bsky; tech has not. Tech is what I want.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

yay, thank you!! send me an address if you want some stickers (as modeled by my friend's dog 🥰)

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Reposted by Charity Majors

Venkatesh Rao 🔹 @vgr.bsky.social · Jul 30

Starting in a couple of minutes: Protocol Town Hall with @charity.wtf , on Observability and other matters. www.youtube.com/watch?v=13P3...

Observability

YouTube video by Protocol Town Hall

www.youtube.com

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

💜🌈✨

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

I like that!

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

*Totally*

Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

🙏💕✨

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

🥰

Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

If you can give guidance on what you're trying to learn, you're likelier to get higher quality feedback.

But yeah -- as the piece says, sometimes you need to manage yourself, not the person asking for feedback. If it doesn't connect to impact, maybe save your breath (and their time). 👏👏👏

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

The other thing I might pair this advice with is, as Netflix famously puts it: "farm for dissent".

If you're the person asking for feedback, be specific, if you can, about where and what parts you are particularly interested in feedback on, and *especially* if you're seeking out contrary views.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

Which means that going around tossing off opinions and personal preferences can be really damaging or confusing to your coworkers!

There is a lot of valor in keeping your mouth shut when you aren't sure that your opinions are relevant or helpful.

Feedback is supposed to be about them, not you.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

What I would pair this piece with, is an awareness of how powerful you are in the org.

The more formal or informal power you have, the more people are going to weight your feedback, or even just what they know if your personal preferences, and adapt their own work accordingly.

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 30

This is a thought provoking, bite sized little piece that boils down to, "don't give feedback on EVERYTHING, because not everything matters! give feedback on things that have impact."

I think it's a *great* exercise for the feedback-giver to think through the impact they want their advice to have.

Matheus Lima @terriblesoftware.org · Jul 18

How much of your feedback is actually about performance vs. personal preference?

If you can't point to specific impact, maybe the behavior that needs changing is yours.

terriblesoftware.org/2025/07/18/w...

Why Most Feedback Shouldn’t Exist

Before giving feedback, ask yourself: is there measurable impact? Most manager feedback is just personal preference disguised as professional development. Stop policing personality.

terriblesoftware.org

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Charity Majors @charity.wtf · Jul 29

Thank you for tagging me. I LOVE this piece. Will follow up with feedback in quote 🥰

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