iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Andrew Cairns

Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 24/09/2026

That's awesome. Glad you like my content. I think mapping something unfamiliar to something we already know helps us start to shape our own mental model. It helps us think for ourselves.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 11/09/2026

All this AGI talk confuses me. I think we've finally delivered on the promise of 'smart speaker'.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 06/09/2026

I think the principle Bias for Action is much more relevant these days. It was always super important, but even more so today, and in the coming months/years.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 03/09/2026

I kept switching between "attention budget" and "attention curve" and assumed I was using one of them wrong. But they just describe different things. Budget: how much attention there is. Curve: how it gets distributed.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 01/09/2026

My @cloudflare.social Worker was at 2.1 MB (3 MB tier limit) Just found I was accidentally 1.58 MB of stuff to the bundle. Pushed what I needed to the client-side bundle, dropped entirely from the server side. Now at 0.52 MB Feeling stupid, and awesome, in equal measures.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 31/08/2026

Couldn't recommend more trying your best to replicate a style you admire. Have learned so much in the past few weeks about vector art, animation, rigging, etc. Time to apply what I've learned. Starting with overhauling little Andy:

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 26/08/2026

First few clips for the intro cut together to get a feel. Still a couple of issues to solve. But, it's getting there! Not looking forward to lip sync stuff, though... 😅

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 25/08/2026

Took a break yesterday to play football. Weather was so nice. Had to be done. But, back to it tonight. Got our cadet walking into the holodeck. Lots of depth stuff figured out. Geordi placeholder will be removed soon. Gonna work now on the holograhic starfleet academy teacher guy.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 23/08/2026

Decided to push on and do a few more bits. Added the hallway when the doors open and replaced the temporary squares with a proper character. Next I'll experiment with a green screen video and chroma key. Keen to know if that'll work since it might save me a lot of time.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 23/08/2026

Parametric holodeck with a camera inside real 3d geometry using threejs. Next step will be to add the arch, door, hallway and the cadet. Have the doors open, he walks in, doors close, then the arch and doors fade. This will be the start of mixing 2d and 3d 😬

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 22/08/2026

Our cadet is ready to learn all about the Open-Closed Principle on the holodeck.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/08/2026

Cleaning up some files on my desktop and found this. This was how I initially planned to animate the characters, but I'm not sure if I'll continue with this type of rigging. It'll just take way too long to animate the whole video this way.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 19/08/2026

WIP - hallway in a starship. Much more challenging than I thought it would be. Need to complete the walls, add more doors, and a big massive door on the right. And somehow make it curve around a corner. Oh, and lights. Ah, and panels on the wall... Lordy lord 😩

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 19/08/2026

I'm 456 watch hours from monetising my YouTube channel. Soon, the threshold will double! I make software engineering videos that help build mental models with metaphors. Four favourites below 👇 If a dev you know would enjoy them, a share means a lot! 🙏 #raceTo4k

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 18/08/2026

My daughter saw me storyboarding my next video and wanted to help. She did great, but out of all the characters, she decided to choose Uncle Bob in his bathrobe instead of a Starfleet uniform. 🙈🤣 Sorry Bob, I'll fix your toes once you're a proper vector.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 17/08/2026

You should always say "yes" to a quick 30 minute paddle. That hour and a half could be the best 4 hours of your life.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 12/08/2026

It’s a strange feeling having AI quote you to yourself.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 26/07/2026

This is my favourite part of creating content. Just being silly and entertaining myself. Spent the morning explaining OCP using a replicator from Star Trek 🖖 Any excuse for wee graphics and stuff like this. Loads of fun.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/07/2026

Yey! It's been a goal of mine to reach the YouTube Partner milestone for a number of years now.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 19/07/2026

Meyer coined the OCP principle and presented inheritance as the OOP way to achieve it. This was in the 1980s, using Eiffel. Eiffel is a tower. So are inheritance hierarchies. If I just ruined Paris for you, then... you're welcome.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 29/06/2026

Incredible that 5k of you subscribe to my silly little channel explaining software things using metaphors and analogies. I hope you all know I have no idea how to make videos. I'm totally making it up and learning as I go. Having loads of fun, though!

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 16/06/2026

When you write to two systems in the same process - what do you do when one fails? I was inspired by an old card game I used to play: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfE_...

youtube.com

Stop writing to two systems. Write to one.

YouTube video by Metaphorically Speaking

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 01/06/2026

Read about a few companies struggling with throughput now their output has dramatically increased. They say "code review has become a bottleneck". They are finding some creative solutions to the four-eyes principle while avoiding pair programming. I'll give them that.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 01/06/2026

Teaching Idempotency using my favourite card game while making a Silicon Valley "always blue" reference. Having fun like this is what keeps me making videos. Lord knows it's not the views! 🤣

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 27/05/2026

This took me a while... all to add less than 10s to a video. But man, I loved this game!

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 06/05/2026

I hope Code with Claude 2026 is over before Bayern v PSG

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 06/05/2026

Was just DM'ed with an Event Sourcing question. Always happy to help and, as much as I'd love to plug my own stuffs, I mostly redirect folks to Event Sourcery from @shawnmc.cool www.youtube.com/@EventSource...

youtube.com

Event Sourcery

Event Sourcery is a video course created by Shawn McCool that covers the fundamentals of reactive systems and event sourcing, both theoretical and practical. The course combines carefully produced vid...

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 03/05/2026

Everything in your repo is part of the prompt. The loudest signal wins. Even if it's wrong: acairns.co.uk/posts/your-c...

acairns.co.uk

Your Codebase is Your Prompt

Everything in your repo is part of the prompt. The loudest signal wins — even when it's wrong.

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Reposted by Andrew Cairns

Luke @lukehedger.dev · 01/05/2026

this metaphor is spot on - sure this would help the penny to drop for a lot of people! also two of my favourite things in life - football and event sourcing

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 27/04/2026

I see you @joshwcomeau.com! I'm now clicking _everything_

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/04/2026

You can rebuild state from events. But you can't rebuild events from state. Think about football. If you see 2-1 on a scoreboard, you know the current score, but not how it got there. That's the problem Event Sourcing solves: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPmQ...

youtube.com

Event Sourcing Explained using Football ⚽

YouTube video by Metaphorically Speaking

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 20/04/2026

I've been thinking about how Ideas used to be almost worthless without Execution. And now, the barrier to executing is at an all-time low. Got an idea? Get it done!

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 28/03/2026

Lots of walkies today with this little guy

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 28/03/2026

I'm really grateful to be in an IC role at the moment. It's an important time to be hands-on, develop new skills, explore new ways of working and form new mental models.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 28/03/2026

Laura Tacho: "The Venn Diagram of Developer Experience and Agent Experience is a circle"

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 24/03/2026

Inventing AI was worth it just for the DataDog MCP

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 23/03/2026

I sat down with Claude Code to build a test analyser. Our DX survey keeps flagging test efficiency, and I had a hunch our test pyramid was off. Wrote it up with some interactive bits. acairns.co.uk/posts/evalua...

acairns.co.uk

Evaluating our Test Pyramid

Our DX survey says the feedback loop is too slow. I had a hunch our test pyramid was off. So I built an analyser to find out — and the real problem wasn't what I expected.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 16/03/2026

If my sit/stand desk and Oura ring were integrated and, when it was "time to stretch my legs" automatically raised... ... that would keep me on my toes. 🥁

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 15/03/2026

First full draft of next video complete. Now time to goto bed, wake up, and hate everything all over again.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 13/03/2026

Took a big risk at work. It worked. Being the CEO of my own career! 💪

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Reposted by Andrew Cairns

Jody O'Donnell @gimpslice.com · 12/03/2026

There is so much to like in this article. Very, very insightful at a time when insightfulness takes a backstage to productivity.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 08/03/2026

I've been exploring how agents demonstrate "implicit freshness". This is what I've been calling the assumption the code, dependencies, or documentation, is up-to-date. But I think I might have it wrong. I think what I'm needing is some sort of Occam's razor heuristic.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 05/03/2026

So, this is what developing a writing habit looks like...? Inspiring stuff @chriscoyier.net

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 04/03/2026

Each time I work on a new OG image for an article, I'm reminded the devlog series flow from one to the next. Utterly pointless, but makes me happy.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 04/03/2026

We really should be kinder to people. If someone achieved something, gained knowledge, or had some luck... please remember what it took to get there. Belittling people who are still trying, practicing, and improving says more about the critic than the criticised.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 03/03/2026

Institutional knowledge was a challenge for software teams long before AI was a thing. Breaking down knowledge silos, documenting, etc. - all regular practice to managing a team. As relevant today as it was before. I'd argue it's easier today!

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 28/02/2026

One thing I've noticed with AI is that it regularly assumes it has the latest code. Never thinks to check if a dependency is out-of-date, or if the codebase itself has pulled the latest version. Has anyone else noticed this? Does anyone articulate something in AGENTS.md to prevent it?

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