Chris Oliver: Engineering, management and AI.

Going Static: Escaping WordPress and Taking Back Control

How I migrated my blog from WordPress to a Hugo-powered static site while keeping SEO URLs, custom layouts, and a modern deployment workflow.

November 20, 2025

Why Are We Still Using REST Inside the Data Centre?

Is it time to learn gRPC? Exploring why REST might not be the best choice for service-to-service communication inside modern data centres.

October 27, 2025

Management changed and you didn't notice.

How modern management has evolved from bravado and mystery to clarity and balance, drawing parallels with the evolution of professional kitchens.

October 20, 2025

Quality Is the New Speed – A Manifesto for Engineering in an AI world

In an age where AI makes speed a commodity, quality becomes the differentiator. A manifesto for engineering excellence in the AI era.

September 22, 2025

Pressure Good, Stress Bad

Understanding the critical difference between pressure and stress, and why it matters for teams and individuals.

August 25, 2025

Flying Blind: Why Your Retrospectives Need a Black Box

How to apply Black Box Thinking to retrospectives and turn failure into momentum for your engineering team.

August 9, 2025

Yours Apps Are Too Thirsty: Stop Selling, Start Serving

A rant about apps that won't stop upselling, begging for reviews, and nagging users who have already paid for the service.

July 25, 2025

Lit Still Feels Like the Future of Frontend

Why Lit web components still feel like the right choice in 2025, especially for prototyping and building maintainable frontends.

July 14, 2025

Coding 2 – back in the habit: Rediscovering Engineering with a Little Help from AI

After years of leading teams, getting back to hands-on coding with AI assistance and exploring the new landscape of engineering.

July 1, 2025