# Cal Evans > I am a man of many skills, but few talents. ## Selfies with Kathy - [Selfies with Kathy](https://calevans.com/kathy-selfies.md): A gallery of selfies with Kathy. ## Privacy Policy - [Privacy Policy](https://calevans.com/privacy-policy.md): My plain-spoken promise: I respect your privacy. ## Contact Cal - [Contact Cal](https://calevans.com/contact-cal.md): I'd love to hear from you. Send us a message! ## Resume of Cal Evans - [Resume of Cal Evans](https://calevans.com/resume.md): Resume of Cal Evans ## I built my wife a band. The lock on the vault was the real story. - [I built my wife a band. The lock on the vault was the real story.](https://calevans.com/blog/i-built-my-wife-a-band.md): This is an article about a vault. The one in the back of my head marked 'you don't have the talent for this.' It just lost its lock, and I want to tell you how. ## Stay away from the dark corners of your mind - [Stay away from the dark corners of your mind](https://calevans.com/blog/stay-away-from-the-dark-corners-of-your-mind.md): A personal story about the dangers of pushing software developers too hard and the lasting impact it can have. ## The Pipeline Hands Me Back Hours - [The Pipeline Hands Me Back Hours](https://calevans.com/blog/the-pipeline-hands-me-back-hours.md): DaVinci Resolve ships with an API Claude can connect to. I asked for a pipeline instead of an edit, and got my evenings back. ## I've Never Lost Sleep Over an Agent - [I've Never Lost Sleep Over an Agent](https://calevans.com/blog/ive-never-lost-sleep-over-an-agent.md): AI agents and developers are not the same thing to manage. One costs tokens when it fails. The other can cost you sleep. ## The New Developer Superpower Isn't Writing Code - [The New Developer Superpower Isn't Writing Code](https://calevans.com/blog/new-developer-superpower.md): AI writes code faster than most developers can type. The bottleneck is no longer implementation — it's judgment. And judgment is the one thing the agent can never have. ## The Excuse Ran Out of Road - [The Excuse Ran Out of Road](https://calevans.com/blog/the-excuse-ran-out-of-road.md): A Sr. Technical Program Manager who writes zero lines of code is the top AI user on his team, and in the top 10% of the company, developers included. The role was never the excuse. ## Open Teams - [Open Teams](https://calevans.com/blog/open_teams.md): Open source projects thrive by inspiring developers to be passionate about their work. What if your corporate team could do the same? This article explores how to apply the principles of open source to build better, more motivated corporate teams. ## I Was the Reset Button - [I Was the Reset Button](https://calevans.com/blog/i-was-the-reset-button.md): I hacked a $50 picture frame into a home dashboard. I can't use a soldering iron. My entire contribution was a bent paperclip and a clear idea of what I wanted. ## I Learned About AI from a 40-Year-Old Chatbot - [I Learned About AI from a 40-Year-Old Chatbot](https://calevans.com/blog/i-learned-about-ai-from-eliza.md): RAG systems retrieve and synthesize. Then they discard. Every query starts fresh. That's not knowledge management — it's fast lookup with a language layer on top. Eliza did the same trick. ## Training Arithmetic - [Training Arithmetic](https://calevans.com/blog/training-arithmetic.md): An hour a month is a rounding error against a working year. Ten years of those hours is a different career. Nobody hands you the hour — you take it, or you don't get it. ## Eternal Sunshine Drink Recipe - [Eternal Sunshine Drink Recipe](https://calevans.com/blog/eternal-sunshine-drink-recipe.md): A potent rum and fruit juice cocktail recipe inspired by the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. ## You Didn't Review the Framework Either - [You Didn't Review the Framework Either](https://calevans.com/blog/you-didnt-review-the-framework-either.md): "I won't ship code I didn't review" is a good instinct pointed the wrong way. You didn't review your vendor directory either, and it shares a public fingerprint with a few million other sites. ## Everybody Delegates. Nobody Teaches - [Everybody Delegates. Nobody Teaches](https://calevans.com/blog/everybody-delegates-nobody-teaches.md): Handing work to an agent is the easy skill and everybody picks it up in a week. Teaching it so you never make the same correction twice is the one almost nobody does. ## What You Can Stop Carrying - [What You Can Stop Carrying](https://calevans.com/blog/what-you-can-stop-carrying.md): AI didn't make me faster at any one task. It made it cheap to leave one. The expensive part of switching was never the switch, it was the reload — and my agents hold that now. ## Clone Your SaaS: What's Your Moat? - [Clone Your SaaS: What's Your Moat?](https://calevans.com/blog/clone-your-saas.md): AI makes it easy to clone SaaS tools from scratch. If you run a SaaS, what's your moat when a company can just build the parts they need and walk away from yours? ## Stop Chasing the One-Shot - [Stop Chasing the One-Shot](https://calevans.com/blog/stop-chasing-the-one-shot.md): Five paragraphs of WHAT and HOW got me pitiful video-editing results. Showing the AI what I wanted, then letting it interview me, got me a pipeline. ## The Lights Just Came On - [The Lights Just Came On](https://calevans.com/blog/the-lights-just-came-on.md): Coinbase cut 14% and said every leader must be an individual contributor. AI doesn't change that judgment call — it just makes the gap between those who get it and those who don't impossible to hide. ## Shite Code That Works Is Still Shite Code - [Shite Code That Works Is Still Shite Code](https://calevans.com/blog/shite-code-that-works-is-still-shite-code.md): When AI writes your code and it works, does code quality still matter? Cal reflects on V1 of his distillery booking bot and wrestles with what it means to be the client instead of the coder. ## Learning for Nothing - [Learning for Nothing](https://calevans.com/blog/learning-for-nothing.md): My friend learns when a problem forces him to. I learn things nobody asked me to learn. On a stable industry those look identical. The ground is moving. ## Try Multiple AI Coding Tools Before Committing - [Try Multiple AI Coding Tools Before Committing](https://calevans.com/blog/try-multiple-ai-coding-tools.md): Before committing to a single AI coding tool, let your developers experiment. Cal shares why GitHub Copilot works best for his personal projects and why you shouldn't overlook OpenAI Codex. ## It's Not Cheating - [It's Not Cheating](https://calevans.com/blog/its-not-cheating.md): My son is using AI like a search engine, and getting burned by hallucinations. The fix isn't a better model — it's learning to treat your first prompt as a draft. ## Nobody Is Reviewing This Code - [Nobody Is Reviewing This Code](https://calevans.com/blog/nobody-is-reviewing-this-code.md): I stopped reading AI-generated code months ago. Here's what replaced code review, and why the human in the loop is quietly turning into a rubber stamp. ## The Maintenance Gap: Who Owns This After It Ships? - [The Maintenance Gap: Who Owns This After It Ships?](https://calevans.com/blog/the-maintenance-gap.md): AI has lowered the bar to build software, but the bar to maintain it hasn't moved. Before you ship, ask who owns it after it's done. ## Leadership In Software Development - [Leadership In Software Development](https://calevans.com/blog/leadership-in-software-development.md): A developer's perspective on moving into management, why it's necessary, and how to improve the state of software development leadership. ## Your Competitors Are Already Invisible to AI. Are You? - [Your Competitors Are Already Invisible to AI. Are You?](https://calevans.com/blog/your-competitors-are-already-invisible-to-ai-are-you.md): AEO is not SEO with a new acronym. In AI search, if your site is not structured, credible, and parseable, you are not ranked lower - you are not in the room. ## Specialization Is for Insects - [Specialization Is for Insects](https://calevans.com/blog/specialization-is-for-insects.md): Heinlein's list was not backend, frontend, and DevOps. It was diapers, sonnets, and invasions. A man of many skills, but few talents — and why the wandering converged. ## Three Hours, One Stream, No Karaoke Mode - [Three Hours, One Stream, No Karaoke Mode](https://calevans.com/blog/three-hours-one-stream-no-karaoke-mode.md): Apple's radio interface got worse and the station's app buffered every ten seconds, so I sat down with Grok and built my own player against their stream and metadata in an afternoon. ## Does This Need YOUR Touch? - [Does This Need YOUR Touch?](https://calevans.com/blog/does-this-need-your-touch.md): AI can research, outline, and draft. Some messages still have to be written by you. Pause and ask whether this one does. ## AI Is Eating SaaS - [AI Is Eating SaaS](https://calevans.com/blog/ai-is-eating-saas.md): With AI, anyone can build exactly what they need. The old question of 'Is it our core competency?' is fading, and the per-seat subscription model is in trouble. ## Use the tool...to use the tool - [Use the tool...to use the tool](https://calevans.com/blog/use-the-tool-to-use-the-tool.md): My barber told me he doesn't know how he's going to catch up with AI. The biggest secret I know is that the tool will teach you how to use the tool. ## Lead With Instructions, Close With What You Want Remembered - [Lead With Instructions, Close With What You Want Remembered](https://calevans.com/blog/lead-with-instructions-close-with-what-you-want-remembered.md): A trick Joel Spolsky used on an audience in 2007 without anyone catching it, and how it settled an argument this week about the order of a message going out to a few hundred people. ## Citizen Developers Need Guardrails - [Citizen Developers Need Guardrails](https://calevans.com/blog/Citizen-Developers-Need-Guardrails.md): Handing employees an LLM account doesn't make them citizen developers. They also need source control, proper access, guardrails, and support to truly contribute. ## I Built a Photo Booth for My Mother-in-Law's 95th Birthday in Two Nights - [I Built a Photo Booth for My Mother-in-Law's 95th Birthday in Two Nights](https://calevans.com/blog/i-built-a-photo-booth-for-my-mother-in-laws-95th-birthday.md): A Raspberry Pi, an iPhone, an iPad, and a photo printer on a router with no internet. Two nights with Claude produced a framed 4x6 keepsake for every guest at a 95th birthday party, and the code is free. ## The Code Monkey is Dead - [The Code Monkey is Dead](https://calevans.com/blog/the-code-monkey-is-dead.md): The scarce skill used to be typing the lines. That job is gone. The job that remains is knowing what to build, what to kill, and putting your name on what ships. ## Sometimes the Workaround Is the Workflow - [Sometimes the Workaround Is the Workflow](https://calevans.com/blog/sometimes-the-workaround-is-the-workflow.md): Cal tried Claude's slide deck skill, hit a wall with Google Slides, found a workaround, and discovered that sometimes the roundabout path is the better workflow. ## Ask it How - [Ask it How](https://calevans.com/blog/ask-it-how.md): To build with agentic, you build with agentic. The harness is Claude Code or Cursor. The trick is treating it as a conversation, and asking your assistant how. ## Two AI Agents Whose Only Job Is to Kill My Ideas - [Two AI Agents Whose Only Job Is to Kill My Ideas](https://calevans.com/blog/two-ai-agents-whose-only-job-is-to-kill-my-ideas.md): I built two agents whose entire purpose is to talk me out of bad ideas before I burn weekends on them. Five out of six times, they succeeded. ## Stop Telling AI What It Can't Do - [Stop Telling AI What It Can't Do](https://calevans.com/blog/stop-telling-ai-what-it-cant-do.md): People only hand AI the tasks they already know how to do. Describe the problem, ask it to solve it, and let the conversation do the rest. ## Tequila Fruit Smoothies Recipe - [Tequila Fruit Smoothies Recipe](https://calevans.com/blog/tequila-fruit-smoothies-recipe.md): A recipe for a "healthier", fruit-based tequila smoothie that skips the artificial sugar found in traditional margaritas. ## You Owe Them - [You Owe Them](https://calevans.com/blog/you-owe-them.md): The moment you step on stage, you take on a debt to everyone who gave you their time. Here's what paying it off looks like. ## People Don't Get Software Updates. Or Do They? - [People Don't Get Software Updates. Or Do They?](https://calevans.com/blog/people-don-tget-software-updates.md): Technology moves on a six-week cycle. People used to move much slower. AI just changed the install speed. Here's why every project—even the ones you kill—is still a permanent upgrade. ## Gardeners, Not Gatekeepers - [Gardeners, Not Gatekeepers](https://calevans.com/blog/gardeners-not-gatekeepers.md): The instinct most companies reach for when AI starts spreading through the org is gatekeepers. I think that is the wrong answer. My answer is gardeners. ## Banana Banshee Recipe - [Banana Banshee Recipe](https://calevans.com/blog/banana-banshee-recipe.md): A creamy, frozen cocktail recipe featuring vodka, banana liqueur, and fresh frozen bananas. ## The Weekend I Built What I Would Have Rented - [The Weekend I Built What I Would Have Rented](https://calevans.com/blog/the-weekend-i-built-what-i-would-have.md): I needed IAB-compliant podcast download stats for my self-hosted show. Instead of renting a SaaS forever, I spent a weekend and some tokens building exactly what I needed. ## Your Moat Is Responsibility - [Your Moat Is Responsibility](https://calevans.com/blog/your-moat-is-responsibility.md): Vibe coders can clone your features overnight. They cannot clone your compliance, your data obligations, or the promise you made to the people who trusted you. ## Doubling Down: Even a Tiny Budget Can Build a SaaS Now - [Doubling Down: Even a Tiny Budget Can Build a SaaS Now](https://calevans.com/blog/doubling-down.md): I'm doubling down on my SaaS post. Even as an extremely small business with no real budget, I was able to build something that would have cost me a hundred dollars a month. ## Of Deadlines and Due Dates - [Of Deadlines and Due Dates](https://calevans.com/blog/of-deadlines-and-due-dates.md): Do not commit to a deadline you did not help set. A look back at managing development teams, aggressive deadlines, and the 'Ship Happens' mentality. ## Nerd Herding - [Nerd Herding](https://calevans.com/blog/nerd-herding.md): Managing software developers requires a different mindset than managing other types of employees. By its very nature, software development is a cross between the rigorous detail of engineering and the craftsman pursuits like fine carpentry. Because Nerds have to be equally at home in both halves of the brain, they are different and must be treated so. ## AI Discipline: Having the Tools Isn't the Same as Using Them Well - [AI Discipline: Having the Tools Isn't the Same as Using Them Well](https://calevans.com/blog/ai-discipline.md): Teams are great at adopting new tools and slow at building discipline around them. The teams that figure out the discipline part first will have a real advantage. ## Instruction Is Done to You. Learning Is Something You Do. - [Instruction Is Done to You. Learning Is Something You Do.](https://calevans.com/blog/instruction-is-done-to-you-learning-is-something-you-do.md): After years of running ZendCon, the Dutch PHP Conference, and CoderFaire, I still don't get why people skip Tutorial Day. Conference sessions are instruction. Tutorials are learning. ## Build Something: Why I Built My Own AI Assistant - [Build Something: Why I Built My Own AI Assistant](https://calevans.com/blog/build-something.md): I built a personal AI assistant instead of buying one. The process of mapping out my own workflow turned out to be just as valuable as the tool itself. ## You Bought the Tokens, Now What? - [You Bought the Tokens, Now What?](https://calevans.com/blog/you-bought-the-tokens-now-what.md): Buying everyone an AI seat and watching the usage dashboard is not a strategy. If you did not define what behavioral change looks like before you rolled out, you are flying blind. ## Cal Evans - [Cal Evans](https://calevans.com/index.md): Home page for Cal Evans.