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ardalis.com
ardalis (Steve Smith)
@ardalis.com
3.3K followers 750 following 2.2K posts
Software Architect and Force Multiplier of dev teams. Husband. Dad to 4 kids: 3 ADHD sons, 2 twins, 1 daughter.

💡NimblePros.com
🔥devBetter.com
🎥YouTube.com/ardalis
Pluralsight | Dometrain author
Microsoft Dev MVP

💥Combat Engineer veteran
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ardalis.com
• Patronage System: A political practice where leaders provide government jobs, contracts, and favors to their supporters and allies in exchange for political loyalty and support. • Clientelism: This involves a broader, often ongoing, asymmetric relationship where patrons (those in power) provide benefits to clients (citizens/supporters) in return for political action, such as votes. • Cronyism: The practice of favoring friends and associates specifically in business dealings and political appointments, regardless of their merit. • Nepotism: A specific form of cronyism that involves favoritism granted to relatives or family members, regardless of their qualifications. These practices are often associated with oligarchy (rule by a few powerful people in their own self-interest) and can lead to significant corruption and inefficiency, as positions and resources are distributed based on personal ties rather than merit or qualification. The merit system is the direct opposite, where appointments are based purely on an individual's
November 9, 2025 at 7:37 PM
ardalis.com
It’s almost holiday baking season, as the song I just heard reminded me:

“Pizzelles… But Who’s Buying?”
🎶🎵🤘
A stack of pizzelles cookies
November 3, 2025 at 10:01 PM
ardalis.com
AI is so smart.

Did you know that you can use your phone's camera to open a QR code someone embeds in an email that you've opened on your phone?

Here's how (per Google AI):
- Open your camera app
- Point your phone camera at your phone's screen
- Click the link that appears...

🤔🤔🤔

#AI #Google
AI Overview To use a QR code in your email on your phone, open the email, then use your phone's built-in camera app to scan it. Point your camera at the QR code on the screen, and a notification or link will appear that you can tap to follow the embedded link or action. If your phone doesn't have a built-in scanner, you can download a QR code scanner app like Google Lens. Using a built-in camera Open the email on your phone and display the QR code on your screen. Open your phone's camera app. Point the camera at the QR code. You don't need to take a picture. A notification, banner, or link will appear on your screen once the code is recognized. Tap the notification to go to the link or perform the action.
November 3, 2025 at 6:05 PM
ardalis.com
Unironically calling your company “Big Brother” in London… apparently some folks never read the book 1984.
#orwell
Sign reading BIGBROTHER® Security and technology you can trust WARNING These premises are protected by Big Brother All Security FIRE • INTRUDER • CCTV • ACCESS • MANNED GUARDING
November 2, 2025 at 7:35 PM
ardalis.com
This giant spider at KEW London was pretty cool.
October 31, 2025 at 11:42 PM
ardalis.com
Good tip 👇
Use my data for generative AI Toggled OFF
October 31, 2025 at 5:04 PM
ardalis.com
Theater of people ready for the talk
October 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
ardalis.com
More great stuff from @dylanbeatt.ie tonight at @ndcconferences.com Porto
October 23, 2025 at 8:30 PM
ardalis.com
Ready for day 3 of @ndcconferences.com Porto!
Cappuccino with flower art in foreground Dylan Beattie on stage preparing Screen behind reads welcome to NDC Porto
October 22, 2025 at 7:43 AM
ardalis.com
Yes the tunnels were great!
Sintra pond Sintra well Sintra Leda Sintra tunnel
October 18, 2025 at 1:42 PM
ardalis.com
Indeed. Probably time to switch to a real photo here. When first I moved from other sites. Wanted to keep this avatar so folks know me by it but I’ve been slowly switch over to this one:
Steve ardalis Smith speaking at Techorama
October 18, 2025 at 1:34 PM
ardalis.com
Some nice views in Cintra yesterday.
At Moorish castle with Pena palace in background Castle Grotto Small watchtower
October 18, 2025 at 7:05 AM
ardalis.com
The OP goes on to note:
what i found in those 47 codebases: like 89% had zero database indexing. ZERO. your app is slow because youre searching through 100,000 records on every single request. thats not a bug thats just... why 76% were paying for like 8x more servers than they needed. the average is 13% utilization - youre paying for 100 servers and using 13 of them. burning $3k-15k a month for nothing 68% had auth vulnerabilities that would make any security person have a panic attack 91% had no automated tests at all. so every new feature is literally russian roulette
October 14, 2025 at 12:27 PM
ardalis.com
I, too, see this pattern all too often, and it's not just with startups, but in enterprises as well:
and theres this pattern that shows up EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. month 1-6: everything is great. moving fast, shipping features, customers are happy, lifes good month 7-12: things start slowing down. weird bugs popping up. "we'll fix it later" becomes the team motto month 13-18: you literally cannot add a new feature without breaking 3 old ones. every deploy is stressful month 19-24: youve now hired 3 more engineers and theyre just maintaining the existing mess. not building anything new month 25+: rebuild from scratch or watch your startup die in slow motion
October 14, 2025 at 12:27 PM
ardalis.com
You can immediately use it to create new templated aspire apps.
aspire new aspire-starter Enter the project name (aspiretests): AspireSample Enter the output path: (./AspireSample): ./AspireSample 📦 Using project templates version: 9.5.1 ✔ Project created successfully in C:\dev\scratch\aspiretests\AspireSample.
October 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM
ardalis.com
Alternately using `dotnet tool install aspire.cli`:
dotnet tool install -g Aspire.Cli --prerelease aspire --version
October 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM
ardalis.com
Installing the aspire CLI tool:

#dotnet
Invoke-RestMethod https://aspire.dev/install.ps1 -OutFile aspire-install.ps1 Invoke-Expression "& { $(Invoke-RestMethod https://aspire.dev/install.ps1) }"
October 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM
ardalis.com
Learning about the latest #Aspire improvements from @maddymontaquila.net at Azure Dev Summit
Aspire CLI templates Summary slide with resources for Aspire Aspirified aka.ms/aspire-discord @aspire.dev BlueSky aspiredotdev YouTube
October 13, 2025 at 1:39 PM
ardalis.com
Developers:
“We think AI makes us faster”

Reality: (see chart last column)

metr.org/blog/2025-07...
Chart showing expected improvement in developer output but last column shows actual productivity down 20% on average with AI.
October 5, 2025 at 1:29 PM
ardalis.com
If you were to graph the speed with which the AI is able to manipulate and add features based on my prompts, the graph is basically going to be one of exponential growth over time.

Much like the time it takes typical humans to build software if they don't spend time refactoring.
chart showing upward y axis labeled COST and horizontal X axis labeled base cost and a plotted rapidly upward sloping curve labeled new feature
September 28, 2025 at 5:30 PM
ardalis.com
"no ships in the ocean anymore"

Sure, Jan.

vesselfinder.com
Map of the world with oceans covered in ship icons via VesselFinder.com
September 15, 2025 at 9:28 PM
ardalis.com
If you get a chance to see Weird Al @alyankovic.bsky.social in concert, go! The show was great and we had the chance to meet him afterward. Such a nice person in person, too!
Weird Al and Ardalis (each in hawaiian shirts and long hair) Text reads "Weird Al" Yankovic Bigger & Weirder 9/13/25 - Blossom Music Center - Cuyahoga Falls, OH
September 15, 2025 at 2:45 PM
ardalis.com
Same!
cred.blue/alt-text
Alt Text Rating 100% after analyzing 423 posts, 49 images
September 12, 2025 at 4:57 PM
ardalis.com
Final product…
Breakfast spread with two quiches (ham and cheese, bacon onion peppers) and fruit and donuts
August 31, 2025 at 2:26 PM
ardalis.com
The quichening
Kitchen counter with knives, cutting board, and bowls of ham, bacon, and veggies
August 31, 2025 at 12:40 PM