Marsh Gardiner
@earth2marsh.com
Product manager (the good kind, I promise).
I ❤ APIs (designing, building, managing, etc) and spent 14 years taking Apigee from a startup to part of Google Cloud.
Involved in OpenAPI, aep.dev, and other OSS. 🌉 SF
I ❤ APIs (designing, building, managing, etc) and spent 14 years taking Apigee from a startup to part of Google Cloud.
Involved in OpenAPI, aep.dev, and other OSS. 🌉 SF
Pinned
Marsh Gardiner
@earth2marsh.com
· Feb 10
Clearly there cannot be "one way to do product management." I, myself, organize PM into six fundamental flavors, as shown in this diagram (note the labels along the legs of the triangle).
Full post: sociotechnical.org/archive/six-...
[1/9] #productmanagement
Full post: sociotechnical.org/archive/six-...
[1/9] #productmanagement
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
My rowing coach talks about "learning a thing" and "finding a thing" in similar ways. I love that, in contrast to the very mechanistic way a lot of tech(-adjacent) people talk about learning as "stuff into a mental slot for easy access later" which is not how learning works in my brain at all.
In contrast, the use of narau (習う) “to learn” and nareru (慣れる) “to get used to” as synonymous in Japanese neo-Confucianism (see Ogyu Sorai) and Japanese Buddhism (see Takuan Soho and Dogen) requires a contextual understanding of Japanese and the meanings of kanji.
November 7, 2025 at 10:09 PM
My rowing coach talks about "learning a thing" and "finding a thing" in similar ways. I love that, in contrast to the very mechanistic way a lot of tech(-adjacent) people talk about learning as "stuff into a mental slot for easy access later" which is not how learning works in my brain at all.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
The fact that we frequently prefer interactions and experiences that feel cognitively easy is also a reliable illusion. We experience this in our learning all the time.
This is also why I'm skeptical of any idea that developer experience should only be about making things FEEL easy
This is also why I'm skeptical of any idea that developer experience should only be about making things FEEL easy
October 24, 2025 at 3:22 PM
The fact that we frequently prefer interactions and experiences that feel cognitively easy is also a reliable illusion. We experience this in our learning all the time.
This is also why I'm skeptical of any idea that developer experience should only be about making things FEEL easy
This is also why I'm skeptical of any idea that developer experience should only be about making things FEEL easy
Co-signed
I know that America is just slowly getting on board with roundabouts. But everyone should know that it is right, proper and helpful to actually use a blinker to indicate where you are exiting.
More information helps the smooth and safe flow of traffic.
#roundabout #driving
More information helps the smooth and safe flow of traffic.
#roundabout #driving
July 17, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Co-signed
The idea of vichyssoise is a leeky abstraction.
June 29, 2025 at 5:42 PM
The idea of vichyssoise is a leeky abstraction.
Honestly, I don't understand why they ever took it out of the curriculum.
chesterton’s fence should be one of the first things they teach in school
May 27, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Honestly, I don't understand why they ever took it out of the curriculum.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
The idea that any one site or platform has to have everyone on it in order to succeed has to die.
That’s just not how human communities work. Never has been.
That’s just not how human communities work. Never has been.
May 26, 2025 at 4:56 AM
The idea that any one site or platform has to have everyone on it in order to succeed has to die.
That’s just not how human communities work. Never has been.
That’s just not how human communities work. Never has been.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
How about putting customers first?
Replace 'AI' with 'customer' in all these bold "AI first statements – now that would be genuinely radical.
Replace 'AI' with 'customer' in all these bold "AI first statements – now that would be genuinely radical.
May 26, 2025 at 7:10 PM
How about putting customers first?
Replace 'AI' with 'customer' in all these bold "AI first statements – now that would be genuinely radical.
Replace 'AI' with 'customer' in all these bold "AI first statements – now that would be genuinely radical.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
Folks, why aren’t we using LLMs for generating schedule estimates for development work??? We all loathe making those estimates, and we can just blame the LLM if the actual development time deviates from the estimate. “The LLM must have hallucinated a bad estimate”.
May 17, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Folks, why aren’t we using LLMs for generating schedule estimates for development work??? We all loathe making those estimates, and we can just blame the LLM if the actual development time deviates from the estimate. “The LLM must have hallucinated a bad estimate”.
Mark Messier is the Patrick Stewart of hockey. Discuss.
May 14, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Mark Messier is the Patrick Stewart of hockey. Discuss.
A neologism for your consideration… Crapitalism
(n.): the perverse incentives of capitalism that lead to enshittification.
(n.): the perverse incentives of capitalism that lead to enshittification.
May 8, 2025 at 6:56 PM
A neologism for your consideration… Crapitalism
(n.): the perverse incentives of capitalism that lead to enshittification.
(n.): the perverse incentives of capitalism that lead to enshittification.
Why did we call them "restaurant closings" when "defeateries" was right there?
April 25, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Why did we call them "restaurant closings" when "defeateries" was right there?
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
“Muni serves more rides on lines that run on (or cross) Market in two days than Waymo does citywide in a month. At 10 times the price of a bus fare with 5% of the capacity, Waymo vehicles have no hope of making up for the transit service they replace and delay”
www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
S.F. has a smart plan to improve Market Street. Waymos aren’t part of it
Waymos have an extensive history of blocking buses and first responder vehicles. Adding them to SF’s busiest transit corridor isn’t a recipe for success.
www.sfchronicle.com
April 22, 2025 at 4:53 PM
“Muni serves more rides on lines that run on (or cross) Market in two days than Waymo does citywide in a month. At 10 times the price of a bus fare with 5% of the capacity, Waymo vehicles have no hope of making up for the transit service they replace and delay”
www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
Are you trying to improve flow, make better tradeoffs, push for more strategic alignment, or clarify what's supported and what isn't?
cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-351-th...
cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-351-th...
TBM 351: The 4 Prioritization Jobs (And Why It Matters)
After all these years, I finally put something into words about prioritization.
cutlefish.substack.com
April 15, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Are you trying to improve flow, make better tradeoffs, push for more strategic alignment, or clarify what's supported and what isn't?
cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-351-th...
cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-351-th...
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
The bipartisan belief that America would be a better place if *other people* worked in a factory.
www.ft.com/content/8459...
www.ft.com/content/8459...
April 13, 2025 at 5:44 PM
The bipartisan belief that America would be a better place if *other people* worked in a factory.
www.ft.com/content/8459...
www.ft.com/content/8459...
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
Announcing a Terraform provider for the AEP project! 🚀
Most companies staff engineers just to maintain their Terraform provider. However, just by making AEP-compliant APIs you get providers for minimal effort beyond writing the API.
Read @rambleraptor.bsky.social's post: aep.dev/blog/terrafo...
Most companies staff engineers just to maintain their Terraform provider. However, just by making AEP-compliant APIs you get providers for minimal effort beyond writing the API.
Read @rambleraptor.bsky.social's post: aep.dev/blog/terrafo...
AEP Terraform Provider
aep.dev
April 9, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Announcing a Terraform provider for the AEP project! 🚀
Most companies staff engineers just to maintain their Terraform provider. However, just by making AEP-compliant APIs you get providers for minimal effort beyond writing the API.
Read @rambleraptor.bsky.social's post: aep.dev/blog/terrafo...
Most companies staff engineers just to maintain their Terraform provider. However, just by making AEP-compliant APIs you get providers for minimal effort beyond writing the API.
Read @rambleraptor.bsky.social's post: aep.dev/blog/terrafo...
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
APIs connect systems.
Bluesky connects people.
We're here for both. 👋
Bluesky connects people.
We're here for both. 👋
April 8, 2025 at 11:38 PM
APIs connect systems.
Bluesky connects people.
We're here for both. 👋
Bluesky connects people.
We're here for both. 👋
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
Fear & concern are coded feminine, so they get translated into anger, which feels more tough.
Hurt & disappointment are coded feminine, so they get translated into outrage & aggrievement.
The simple human need for love & affirmation is coded feminine, so it gets translated into demands & control.
Hurt & disappointment are coded feminine, so they get translated into outrage & aggrievement.
The simple human need for love & affirmation is coded feminine, so it gets translated into demands & control.
April 8, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Fear & concern are coded feminine, so they get translated into anger, which feels more tough.
Hurt & disappointment are coded feminine, so they get translated into outrage & aggrievement.
The simple human need for love & affirmation is coded feminine, so it gets translated into demands & control.
Hurt & disappointment are coded feminine, so they get translated into outrage & aggrievement.
The simple human need for love & affirmation is coded feminine, so it gets translated into demands & control.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
Is your company guilty of metrics misuse? Have DORA metrics been weaponised to compare the productivity of teams or individuals? Maybe you should send them my latest article about Metrics That Matter! 📈
Metrics That Matter
Beyond DORA: Meaningful Measurement for Platform Teams
newsletter.bryanross.me
March 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Is your company guilty of metrics misuse? Have DORA metrics been weaponised to compare the productivity of teams or individuals? Maybe you should send them my latest article about Metrics That Matter! 📈
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
March 18, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
I am professionally outraged as well, since I've worked on internal devtools teams where people would rather listen to some guy with a podcast instead of their own coworkers.
March 16, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I am professionally outraged as well, since I've worked on internal devtools teams where people would rather listen to some guy with a podcast instead of their own coworkers.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
Top-down mandates to use AI in software development might do far more harm than good for engineering organizations. Why? Because of organizational failures to mitigate technical identity threat.
March 15, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Top-down mandates to use AI in software development might do far more harm than good for engineering organizations. Why? Because of organizational failures to mitigate technical identity threat.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
Happy (A)PI Day, 3.14!
May you always receive the response codes you were expecting.
May you always receive the response codes you were expecting.
March 14, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Happy (A)PI Day, 3.14!
May you always receive the response codes you were expecting.
May you always receive the response codes you were expecting.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
Project and product managers are fucking awesome. “Agile coaches done right” are awesome as well
So many of my major life hacks as a principal+ IC for achieving high impact boil down to “learn the project and product management skills your org refuses to value and hire for. Turns out you need them”
So many of my major life hacks as a principal+ IC for achieving high impact boil down to “learn the project and product management skills your org refuses to value and hire for. Turns out you need them”
March 12, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Project and product managers are fucking awesome. “Agile coaches done right” are awesome as well
So many of my major life hacks as a principal+ IC for achieving high impact boil down to “learn the project and product management skills your org refuses to value and hire for. Turns out you need them”
So many of my major life hacks as a principal+ IC for achieving high impact boil down to “learn the project and product management skills your org refuses to value and hire for. Turns out you need them”
Well said! I'll add that I find it helpful to consider power-over vs power-with.
Speccy, Spectral, Vacuum, Zally, you name it.
There are plenty of linters and API description validators out there.
While being able to enforce the rules for your APIs programmatically is fine, that is not what API Governance is about
apichangelog.substack.com/p/api-govern...
There are plenty of linters and API description validators out there.
While being able to enforce the rules for your APIs programmatically is fine, that is not what API Governance is about
apichangelog.substack.com/p/api-govern...
API Governance Isn't Just Rule Automation
Automating API rules isn't the only thing governance is about.
apichangelog.substack.com
February 27, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Well said! I'll add that I find it helpful to consider power-over vs power-with.
Reposted by Marsh Gardiner
TRUMP: The NCAA has complied immediately. That's good. But I understand Maine -- is the governor of Maine here?
JANET MILLS: Yeah I'm here
TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply?
JM: I'm going to comply with state and federal law
T: You better do it bc you're not gonna get any federal funding at all
JANET MILLS: Yeah I'm here
TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply?
JM: I'm going to comply with state and federal law
T: You better do it bc you're not gonna get any federal funding at all
February 21, 2025 at 7:01 PM
TRUMP: The NCAA has complied immediately. That's good. But I understand Maine -- is the governor of Maine here?
JANET MILLS: Yeah I'm here
TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply?
JM: I'm going to comply with state and federal law
T: You better do it bc you're not gonna get any federal funding at all
JANET MILLS: Yeah I'm here
TRUMP: Are you not gonna comply?
JM: I'm going to comply with state and federal law
T: You better do it bc you're not gonna get any federal funding at all