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Matt Schouten

@cybadger.com

38 followers 41 following 307 posts

I like to build things up. People, systems, software, knowledge... | Leadership and team coach | I also like books! | www.cybadger.com

Posts Replies Media

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 09/01/2026

📚The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by @brandonsanderson.com "White room" story, easy, fun, funny, and not part of a series. Modern-ish human, medieval England (ish), no memory. Now he needs to figure out what's going on, maybe who he is, and definitely survive. #booksky

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval Eng…

A man awakes in a clearing in what appears to be mediev…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 08/01/2026

📚 What I Ate in One Year (and Related Thoughts) by Stanley Tucci (November library reading challenge: "a culinary read") Daily-ish journal format, built around food but also happenings, feelings, and musings. A few recipes. Strong feelings on food, esp Italian! Interesting life for sure. #booksky

What I Ate in One Year (And Related Thoughts)

From Stanley Tucci, award-winning actor and New York Ti…

Reposted by Matt Schouten

Kristopher Micinski @krismicinski.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

New on my blog: "Why Study CS? Thoughts on LLM-assisted software engineering" kmicinski.com/claude-code-...

Why Study CS? Thoughts on LLM-assisted software engineering

Dear students of Computer Science,

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 07/01/2026

My rate of finishing books has been way higher than my rate of posting about them. Realized I have a list of at least 12 books to post about. And a stack of books calling my name.

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 07/01/2026

📚 Romeo and/or Juliet by @ryannorth.ca caught my eye at the library. Shakespeare meets Choose Your Own Adventure - hilarious, absurd, and very much understands The Bard. Great (guest) art, too. Play as Romeo, Juliet, Nurse. Enjoy Juliet's protein shakes. Live happily ever after, or not... #booksky

romeoandorjuliet.com

Romeo And/Or Juliet

Plays weren't meant to be read. They were meant... to be played.

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 30/12/2025

📚Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee Mixed feelings. - It's not a polished, publish-ready book. - It's extremely perceptive about people and human nature. - The characters are flawed. - Some of the flaws make the characters more real. Worth a read. But I also need to re-read Mockingbird now. #booksky

Go Set a Watchman

From Harper Lee comes a landmark new novel set two deca…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 22/12/2025

If your company seems to flail, spiral, oscillate, or just keeps doubling down on the same idea, maybe the problem is too much feedback, undamped, without systems to handle it. Credit to @another.rodeo for the nudge to write this in response to his excellent post at another.rodeo/feedback/.

You Can't Handle The Truth! - Matt Schouten

If your company can't respond to big red warning flags or to basic, clear feedback about the world, try building better feedback systems.

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 18/12/2025

📚The Psychology of Time Travel, by @katemascarenhas.bsky.social (random pickup). Four women invent time travel in the 60s, kicking off a multi-timeline closed-room murder mystery that's also somehow very linear. Oh, and one of the four was ostracized after a very public breakdown. #booksky

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 15/12/2025

📚 The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Such beautifully crafted language, and a story told calmly but urgently, the words flowing off the page painting scenes and feelings on the reader's mind. And the characters so textured and full of surprises. Old, classic, but new to me. Great read! #booksky

The Last Unicorn (The Last Unicorn, #1)

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780451450524 She was…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 09/12/2025

📚Uprooted by @naominovik.bsky.social Well-crafted dark fairy tale, compelling setting, interesting magic system. The main character is irritatingly dense (and the Dragon irritatingly taciturn), but eventually figures things out. Felt novel, but comfortable. Enchanting, even. Loved it. #booksky

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter w…

Reposted by Matt Schouten

Bryan Cantrill @bcantrill.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Your intellectual fly is open bcantrill.dtrace.org/2025/12/05/y...

bcantrill.dtrace.org

Your intellectual fly is open | The Observation Deck

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 25/11/2025

I wrote a post diving into Marketing Platform Engineering, which is the "craft of building the systems and workflows that enable marketing teams to work at their best", described by @aurooba.com. If you're an engineer working to support marketing (or a marketer supported by engineers), read it.

Marketing Platform Engineering - Matt Schouten

A dive into Marketing Platform Engineering, a specialty craft first described in a series of blog posts by Aurooba Ahmed.

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 24/11/2025

📚Spy School: Blackout by Stuart Gibbs If you liked the previous 12 Spy School books, you'll like this one. As usual, action and mystery with a lot of humor. I liked the Komodo dragons. (Excellent middle-grade series. Might be good for reluctant readers, especially boys.) #booksky

Spy School Blackout

In the thirteenth book in Stuart Gibbs’s New York Times…

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 22/11/2025

📚Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid Library reading challenge for September was "book set in the decade you were born". Fast, enjoyable read. Family history and how it impacts the present. Gossipy but raw, alternating celebrity glamour and real consequences of bad decisions. #booksky

Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate t…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 18/11/2025

📚Deep Dive by @ronwaltersbooks.bsky.social, random library pickup. Fast-paced, well-constructed sci-fi thriller. Much more interesting than I expected given the synopsis says the protagonist "find[s] himself trapped" in virtual reality. Fun read, clever premise, and just a little creepy. #booksky

When your reality shatters, what will you do to put it …

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 07/11/2025

"Weeks of coding can save you minutes of thinking." It's true! I wrote an article exploring how the models you choose can make software easier—or harder to build and maintain. And yes, there's a case study of a bad model I chose. Also includes advice on picking better models.

Models Matter - Matt Schouten

The models you use to think about software and the world matter—a lot. This post explores a bad model, and ways to pick better models.

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 06/11/2025

This is a fun talk, with lots of good lessons on becoming a more effective engineer. I took away several good reminders and a few new thoughts, and I've been doing this for a couple decades. Ross is a really good engineer, and a kind and wise human as well. Worth watching!

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 22/10/2025

📚The Engineering Executive's Primer by @lethain.com. A bit dry, but actionable and just as advertised. Good "start here" for lots of topics, and covers high-level mindset. Useful starter manual + handbook for those stepping into (or curious about) exec roles. #booksky

The Engineering Executive's Primer: Impactful Technical…

As an engineering manager, you almost always have someo…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 15/10/2025

I learned something about sed today! I knew you could delete a range of line numbers: sed '2,5d' I didn't realize you could use patterns, too: sed '/#Start/,/#End/d' (If you don't know what sed is, and why this is cool, that's okay. In short, it edits text without user interaction.)

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 01/10/2025

I wrote an article about an unreasonably useful question you can ask: "How do you know?" Not challenging, but examining. And ways to become more certain. “It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” - Mark Twain

How Do You Know? - Matt Schouten

I often ask a simple, unreasonably useful question: “how do you know?” I will ask that question of myself (“how […]

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 23/09/2025

It’s Fat Bear Week! 🐻 Go and “vote for the bear you believe best exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears.” #fatbearweek

Fat Bear Week 2025

Fat Bear Week 2025

Reposted by Matt Schouten

Ilona Borsos @borsos-ilo.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Yeah I can read about something but how can I _really_ learn what it is? This was the question that struck me during a morning walk and this piece is an attempt to answer it. ilonaborsos.com/en/posts/jak...

ilonaborsos.com

How to understand something intuitively? | Ilona Borsos

Working as a product manager means that I constantly come across new topics and concepts that I need to absorb. Sometimes it’s just about quickly acquiring the knowledge necessary to complete a specif...

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 17/09/2025

Heard this arrangement of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" at a choir concert last spring. It's beautiful.

The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dyland (SATB Choir + Solo) - Arranged by Adam Podd

YouTube video by Hal Leonard Choral

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 16/09/2025

If you assign a deadline, give a reason. Deadlines drive behavior, and if you don't share the reason for a deadline, you might be driving the wrong behavior.

Why Deadlines? Why That Deadline? - Matt Schouten

It was about 10PM that Thursday night when I got back to my apartment. After a full day of work, […]

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 11/09/2025

📚 "This is Lean, Resolving the Efficiency Paradox" by Niklas Modig and Pär Åhlström. Slim book, concisely defines "Lean" beyond "what Toyota does". Encourages deliberate choices and ongoing improvement. Excellent read, despite some (translation?) clunkiness in wording. #booksky #lean #agile

This Is Lean: Resolving the Efficiency Paradox

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 09/09/2025

📚Radio Free Vermont by @billmckibben.bsky.social A craft beer tour of Vermont hidden inside a climate fiction tale of backwoods local government, community, potential (inadvertent) secession, and biathlon. Quirky, silly, fun to read, yet thought-provoking. Good for fans of Parks & Rec or NPR. 🎙️

Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance

"I hope no one secedes, but I also hope that Americans…

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 07/09/2025

Had way too many tabs. I still have way too many tabs, but now at least they're organized. Window 1: email, two current-but-small projects (~15) Window 2: to-read (~100) Window 3: job search (and a few related to marketing my manager coaching biz, ~10) Separating contexts to help my brain. 🧠

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 07/09/2025

"If you're remote, ramble." Never tried having a personal ramblings channel for each team member like @stephango.com suggests. But I have noticed remote teams are more effective the more they share—and yes, ramble—in public. It avoids isolation and keeps the humans connected.

If you're remote, ramble

A lightweight way to add ambient social cohesion for remote teams.

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 06/09/2025

Here's a great list of ideas if you feel like you're too engrossed in that little glass rectangle in your pocket (or...the one you're staring at RIGHT NOW 😜). Bonus idea: a friend of mine has started inviting people to have lunch at his house. "Come on over, let's make some sandwiches."

The Analog Life: 50 Ways to Unplug and Feel Human Again

A toolkit of habits, routines and products to help you live more intentionally

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 06/09/2025

I’m just cheering for a good 🏈 game…wait. No. That’s a complete lie. I’m cheering for the Cyclones to beat the Hawkeyes. Go State! 🌪️🌪️🌪️ #cyclones #cyhawk 🦡

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 05/09/2025

📚"Murder by Memory" by @oliviawaite.com, random library pickup. It's a cozy murder mystery novella set on an interstellar ship. New bodies are available to passengers when needed—so how (and why?) did this murder happen? Fun premise, interesting setting, well constructed, quick read. #booksky

Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman, #1)

Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in this sci-fi ode to …

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 04/09/2025

Finally wrote that little shell script to automate that slightly tedious manual step in a task I do a few times a week. It's already worth it. That task is so much less annoying now.

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 02/09/2025

📚I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle Charming fantasy tale of a beautiful princess, handsome prince, a dragon exterminator, dragons, and an evil wizard. Funny yet deep, subversion of the genre yet conventional. Hints of a big world, but tight and focused. Very enjoyable read! #booksky

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons

Dragons are common in the backwater kingdom of Bellemon…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 01/09/2025

Cross-country running is the only high school sport I’m aware of that results in athletes and spectators being sweaty and tired for the same reasons. 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️🏃

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 29/08/2025

📚Exit Strategy by Charlton Pettus. Tough situation ➡️ despair ➡️ disappearing. Then things start to get wild. Page-turner, fast-paced thriller, but lots of graphic icky/gory/cruel stuff. Some plot gaps, some unresolved issues, and some of the characters were not well constructed. #booksky

An innovative debut thriller about the secretive organi…

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 27/08/2025

📚August = Biography Month at MPL. My basketball-loving son handed me the bio of his favorite player: Giannis by Mirin Fader (@mirinfader.bsky.social). Great research, thorough, very readable. Covers hardships and highs equally well. Spoiler: Giannis becomes a good basketball player. 🏀 #booksky

Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP

Discover the story of one of the most transcendent play…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 26/08/2025

If your team has difficulty communicating—or remembering—the communication/collaboration maturity model in this article from @another.rodeo is worth a read.

Failure to communicate | Another Rodeo

The Four Levels of Remote Communication, or Why Your Team Forgets Everything

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 25/08/2025

📚Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan (@lavanya.bsky.social). Despite the sprinkle donut on the cover, a fairly heavy read. Good for foodie technocritics interested in sociology, probably. Enjoyed it. Loved the ambiguity and "anything could happen" feel of the ending. #booksky

Interstellar MegaChef (Flavour Hacker, #1)

Looking for your one shot to rise to the "top of the po…

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Reposted by Matt Schouten

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 24/08/2025

This feels like a spot of good news www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

sciencedaily.com

Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold

Scientists have developed a breakthrough food supplement that could help save honeybees from devastating declines. By engineering yeast to produce six essential sterols found in pollen, researchers pr...

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 22/08/2025

📚 Hum by Helen Phillips @helencphillips.bsky.social (second opinion; my wife read it for a grad class and disliked it) Perceptive and likely prescient dystopian novel about humans, tech, and who the tech serves. Thought-provoking, worth a read. BUT very unsure if I liked or enjoyed it. 😵‍💫 #booksky

From the National Book Award–longlisted author of The N…

Reposted by Matt Schouten

Ross Wintle @rosswintle.uk · 20/08/2025

The full schedule for LoopConf (London, 25th September) is now out. I'm sharing a stage with some amazing people. I'm also working on some fun things for my talk - which is almost going to be a mini conference-within-a-conference! You can get £50 off a ticket with code “ROSS50”. www.loopconf.com

WordPress Developer Conference – 25 September 2025 – London, UK

The premier conference for developers who choose WordPress.

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 20/08/2025

📚 Space Oddity by Catherynne Valente (@catvalente.bsky.social), sequel to Space Opera. Liked Opera? You'll like this. Must read Opera first. Oddity explores the absurd galaxy and its species. Weird, confusing, absolutely beautiful ending. 🦡 And a badger named Douglas. 🦡 Very enjoyable. #booksky

Space Oddity (Space Opera, #2)

Return to the greatest contest in the galaxy in the seq…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 18/08/2025

📚 "The Point" by John Dixon, random library grab. Rebellious teenager with mutant powers ends up at secret West Point training program in lieu of jail, then...crisis! Quick read, exciting enough, a bit formulaic at times. (Seemed a bit of a YA take on The Rook by O'Malley.) #booksky

What if you had a power you had to hide from everyone--…

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 15/08/2025

📚 There's a sequel to "How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse"! Picked up "How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge" by K. Eason (@svartjagr.bsky.social). Much different feel from the original, but still an enjoyable read. Book 1 took place over months (and years). Book 2, a day or so. #booksky

How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge (The Thorne Chronicl…

Rory Thorne must use the fairy blessings gifted to her …

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 14/08/2025

Wrote about something my gym knows about managing work that I see ignored by a shocking number of managers. TL;DR: Keeping people busy is not as good as "follow the work" and focusing on priorities.

It’s Fun To Learn (About Workflow) From the YMCA - Matt Schouten

The YMCA in Marion, Iowa knows more about getting work done than many professional managers. Recently, this sign went up […]

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 13/08/2025

📚📚📚Three Jennifer Lynn Barnes books, Hawthorne universe. - The Grandest Game - Games Untold (I was told I needed to read it here "because of Prague") - Glorious Rivals Grandest Game and Glorious rivals: solid Hawthorne books. Games Untold: short stories. Uneven but fun. #booksky

The Grandest Game (The Grandest Game, #1)

Get caught up in the puzzles, games, danger, romance, a…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 07/08/2025

PSA: Store-bought pita bread can start to mold inside, and it can be hard to see. If it’s near or past the sell-by date, it’s worth checking for interior mold before you get too excited about your lunch idea.

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Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 04/08/2025

Space Opera by Catherynne Valente (@catvalente.bsky.social), random library grab because of the absurd disco-ball-Saturn cover. 📚 To prove we humans are sentient, we need to not come in last in an interstellar Eurovision-style contest. Weird, wordy, fun, Hitchhiker's Guide-style. #booksky

Space Opera (Space Opera, #1)

IN SPACE EVERYONE CAN HEAR YOU SING A century ago, the…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 01/08/2025

"How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse" by K. Eason (@svartjagr.bsky.social‬), random library pickup. Large-scale political maneuvering, treachery, and interpersonal maneuvering. Plus a clever take on computer hacking (minor aspect, ok for non-geeks!). Really enjoyable read. #booksky

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse (The Thorne Ch…

The Princess Bride meets Princess Leia in this snarky-s…

Matt Schouten @cybadger.com · 31/07/2025

I get why companies use noreply email addresses. I really do. But I wonder what that’s doing to our sense of (dis)connection. Our sense that it’s all transactional and about me. Our feeling of being alone. Instead of Mr Jones at the corner store, it’s noreply@cornerstore.example. Impersonal.

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