Ryan Spletzer
@ryan.spletzer.com
Distinguished Software Engineer at Autodesk
spletzer.com
spletzer.com
Is it safe to write a blog post that isn’t about AI?
In this slightly humorous and irreverent reflection, I look at AI hype, technological amnesia, and why we keep pretending the rest of technology doesn’t exist.
(No agents were harmed in the writing of this.)
www.spletzer.com/2025/12/is-i...
In this slightly humorous and irreverent reflection, I look at AI hype, technological amnesia, and why we keep pretending the rest of technology doesn’t exist.
(No agents were harmed in the writing of this.)
www.spletzer.com/2025/12/is-i...
December 14, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Is it safe to write a blog post that isn’t about AI?
In this slightly humorous and irreverent reflection, I look at AI hype, technological amnesia, and why we keep pretending the rest of technology doesn’t exist.
(No agents were harmed in the writing of this.)
www.spletzer.com/2025/12/is-i...
In this slightly humorous and irreverent reflection, I look at AI hype, technological amnesia, and why we keep pretending the rest of technology doesn’t exist.
(No agents were harmed in the writing of this.)
www.spletzer.com/2025/12/is-i...
Reposted by Ryan Spletzer
Finally, someone wrote it down in a book:
To understand what is going well/poorly inside your engineering org: ask the devs what this is! Talk to a bunch of them to get a good picture
From the excellent new book by Nicole Forsgren and Abi Noda called "Frictionless"
Arrived yesterday
To understand what is going well/poorly inside your engineering org: ask the devs what this is! Talk to a bunch of them to get a good picture
From the excellent new book by Nicole Forsgren and Abi Noda called "Frictionless"
Arrived yesterday
November 28, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Finally, someone wrote it down in a book:
To understand what is going well/poorly inside your engineering org: ask the devs what this is! Talk to a bunch of them to get a good picture
From the excellent new book by Nicole Forsgren and Abi Noda called "Frictionless"
Arrived yesterday
To understand what is going well/poorly inside your engineering org: ask the devs what this is! Talk to a bunch of them to get a good picture
From the excellent new book by Nicole Forsgren and Abi Noda called "Frictionless"
Arrived yesterday
MCP pushed me back into looking at OAuth extension specs, and I found myself in a spider web of browser tabsm so I decided to make a Mermaid graph diagram in a GitHub repo to visualize the specs and their reference relationships.
Visualizing the OAuth & OpenID Connect Spec Graph | Ryan Spletzer
I created an OpenID Connect and OAuth spec graph in a Mermaid diagram in a GitHub repository.
www.spletzer.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:04 PM
MCP pushed me back into looking at OAuth extension specs, and I found myself in a spider web of browser tabsm so I decided to make a Mermaid graph diagram in a GitHub repo to visualize the specs and their reference relationships.
We’re living in the age of "vibe coding"—where it’s easier than ever to generate something that looks real.
But just because Pinocchio can sing and dance doesn’t mean he’s a real boy...
www.spletzer.com/2025/09/pino...
But just because Pinocchio can sing and dance doesn’t mean he’s a real boy...
www.spletzer.com/2025/09/pino...
September 7, 2025 at 10:16 PM
We’re living in the age of "vibe coding"—where it’s easier than ever to generate something that looks real.
But just because Pinocchio can sing and dance doesn’t mean he’s a real boy...
www.spletzer.com/2025/09/pino...
But just because Pinocchio can sing and dance doesn’t mean he’s a real boy...
www.spletzer.com/2025/09/pino...
I wrote a post about applying CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation) principles to AI agents. www.spletzer.com/2025/08/ask-...
August 18, 2025 at 12:06 AM
I wrote a post about applying CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation) principles to AI agents. www.spletzer.com/2025/08/ask-...
I wrote a blog post to try to disambiguate what MCP can and can't do, and what it is and is not.
www.spletzer.com/2025/08/mcp-...
www.spletzer.com/2025/08/mcp-...
August 4, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I wrote a blog post to try to disambiguate what MCP can and can't do, and what it is and is not.
www.spletzer.com/2025/08/mcp-...
www.spletzer.com/2025/08/mcp-...
If you haven't had a chance to watch this Pragmatic Engineer interview with Gergely Orosz and Laura Tacho, I highly highly highly recommend it.
So many pull quotes from this discussion that resonated with me, thinking "Yes! Finally! Someone is saying it!" 🙂
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHHl...
So many pull quotes from this discussion that resonated with me, thinking "Yes! Finally! Someone is saying it!" 🙂
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHHl...
Measuring the impact of AI on software engineering – with Laura Tacho
YouTube video by The Pragmatic Engineer
www.youtube.com
July 29, 2025 at 3:52 PM
If you haven't had a chance to watch this Pragmatic Engineer interview with Gergely Orosz and Laura Tacho, I highly highly highly recommend it.
So many pull quotes from this discussion that resonated with me, thinking "Yes! Finally! Someone is saying it!" 🙂
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHHl...
So many pull quotes from this discussion that resonated with me, thinking "Yes! Finally! Someone is saying it!" 🙂
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHHl...
July 23, 2025 at 4:47 PM
It is spelled: Copilot.
Not CoPilot.
Not Co-pilot.
Not Co-Pilot.
Copilot.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. 🙃
Not CoPilot.
Not Co-pilot.
Not Co-Pilot.
Copilot.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. 🙃
July 1, 2025 at 4:12 PM
It is spelled: Copilot.
Not CoPilot.
Not Co-pilot.
Not Co-Pilot.
Copilot.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. 🙃
Not CoPilot.
Not Co-pilot.
Not Co-Pilot.
Copilot.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. 🙃
Reposted by Ryan Spletzer
Wow. “These changes are meant to address what Microsoft sees as lagging internal adoption of its Copilot AI services, according to another two people with knowledge of the plans.”
It sounds like some of the lack of adoption is people using competitor’s tools.
It sounds like some of the lack of adoption is people using competitor’s tools.
Microsoft is asking managers to consider usage of AI tools in performance reviews and is considering formal metrics around AI tool usage.
I don’t think usage of any tool, no matter how useful, has ever been a requirement to get a good performance review during my career. This is weird.
I don’t think usage of any tool, no matter how useful, has ever been a requirement to get a good performance review during my career. This is weird.
Microsoft pushes staff to use internal AI tools more, and may consider this in reviews. 'Using AI is no longer optional.'
Executive Julia Liuson recently told Microsoft managers to include internal AI tool usage when evaluating employee performance.
www.businessinsider.com
June 29, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Wow. “These changes are meant to address what Microsoft sees as lagging internal adoption of its Copilot AI services, according to another two people with knowledge of the plans.”
It sounds like some of the lack of adoption is people using competitor’s tools.
It sounds like some of the lack of adoption is people using competitor’s tools.
I wrote about the hidden complexities of running Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers locally vs remotely, and why deployment context shapes everything from auth to architecture.
👉 www.spletzer.com/2025/05/the-...
👉 www.spletzer.com/2025/05/the-...
June 1, 2025 at 1:56 PM
I wrote about the hidden complexities of running Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers locally vs remotely, and why deployment context shapes everything from auth to architecture.
👉 www.spletzer.com/2025/05/the-...
👉 www.spletzer.com/2025/05/the-...
Reposted by Ryan Spletzer
The curse of social media: not just for software engineering but other areas as I observe (say, hiring, investing, product management, venture capital etc)
Those the best at their craft are usually busy building not writing/posting. Viral posts often wrong in many ways etc
Via @icooper.bsky.social
Those the best at their craft are usually busy building not writing/posting. Viral posts often wrong in many ways etc
Via @icooper.bsky.social
May 30, 2025 at 10:54 AM
The curse of social media: not just for software engineering but other areas as I observe (say, hiring, investing, product management, venture capital etc)
Those the best at their craft are usually busy building not writing/posting. Viral posts often wrong in many ways etc
Via @icooper.bsky.social
Those the best at their craft are usually busy building not writing/posting. Viral posts often wrong in many ways etc
Via @icooper.bsky.social
I wrote a post about the area of enterprise search, where I spent a great deal of time over a decade ago in my career, and whose lessons I’m realizing are more relevant than ever today in the age of AI, RAG, and agents.
www.spletzer.com/2025/05/ente...
www.spletzer.com/2025/05/ente...
May 20, 2025 at 1:57 PM
I wrote a post about the area of enterprise search, where I spent a great deal of time over a decade ago in my career, and whose lessons I’m realizing are more relevant than ever today in the age of AI, RAG, and agents.
www.spletzer.com/2025/05/ente...
www.spletzer.com/2025/05/ente...
I wrote a post about the SPIFFE standard and its accompanying open-source implementation SPIRE.
www.spletzer.com/2025/03/zero...
(Image courtesy of ChatGPT)
www.spletzer.com/2025/03/zero...
(Image courtesy of ChatGPT)
March 27, 2025 at 1:04 AM
I wrote a post about the SPIFFE standard and its accompanying open-source implementation SPIRE.
www.spletzer.com/2025/03/zero...
(Image courtesy of ChatGPT)
www.spletzer.com/2025/03/zero...
(Image courtesy of ChatGPT)
I wrote a post about how to get your client_id and client_secret from an app registration in Entra ID (formerly known as Azure AD) since this regularly trips many people up. www.spletzer.com/2025/01/how-...
How to Get Your client_id and client_secret from Entra ID | Ryan Spletzer
Since I am not a scalable replacement for ChatGPT or Google, and because I felt this would be helpful beyond my own company, I felt compelled to write this post due to the sheer volume of questions I ...
www.spletzer.com
January 14, 2025 at 1:26 AM
I wrote a post about how to get your client_id and client_secret from an app registration in Entra ID (formerly known as Azure AD) since this regularly trips many people up. www.spletzer.com/2025/01/how-...
I wrote a post about my fun side quest to get SpinRite to run on my Apple Silicon-based Mac. www.spletzer.com/2024/12/runn...
Running SpinRite on Apple Silicon | Ryan Spletzer
I was trying to run SpinRite 6.1 on some drives from an old Drobo 5N NAS that bit the dust a few years back, but I didn't have an x86 machine handy, but after a bit of research I found a very elegant ...
www.spletzer.com
December 19, 2024 at 10:13 PM
I wrote a post about my fun side quest to get SpinRite to run on my Apple Silicon-based Mac. www.spletzer.com/2024/12/runn...
Some light reading.
November 25, 2024 at 10:50 PM
Some light reading.
Reposted by Ryan Spletzer
A practical way to improve your communication skills: a vocal, visual and transcription review.
November 22, 2024 at 8:14 AM
A practical way to improve your communication skills: a vocal, visual and transcription review.
Reposted by Ryan Spletzer
SQL injection
Just when I thought I've seen it all, a PostgreSQL extension shows up that allows you to embed a SQLite database inside a table. github.com/frectonz/pgl...
November 19, 2024 at 4:10 PM
SQL injection
Reposted by Ryan Spletzer
Bluesky is proof that cryptocurrency isn't a core tenant of decentralization. The team demonstrated extreme levels of pragmatism by leveraging new and existing technologies to produce something people actually use.
November 19, 2024 at 1:48 AM
Bluesky is proof that cryptocurrency isn't a core tenant of decentralization. The team demonstrated extreme levels of pragmatism by leveraging new and existing technologies to produce something people actually use.
I wrote a post reflecting on my participation in Autodesk's COO Leadership Development Program (LDP) over the past six months.
www.spletzer.com/2024/11/san-...
www.spletzer.com/2024/11/san-...
San Diego | Ryan Spletzer
All has been quiet on the blogging front, since life has been busy: on top of my wife and I moving houses in August, as part of the COO Leadership Development Program (LDP) at Autodesk I had the oppor...
www.spletzer.com
November 11, 2024 at 11:22 PM
I wrote a post reflecting on my participation in Autodesk's COO Leadership Development Program (LDP) over the past six months.
www.spletzer.com/2024/11/san-...
www.spletzer.com/2024/11/san-...
I wrote a post reflecting on my recent experience in Tokyo as part of Autodesk's COO Leadership Development Program.
www.spletzer.com/2024/06/tokyo/
www.spletzer.com/2024/06/tokyo/
Tokyo | Ryan Spletzer
I would be remiss if I wrote my next blog post without reflecting on a recent amazing and profound experience I had in Tokyo, as part of Autodesk's COO Leadership Development Program.
www.spletzer.com
June 6, 2024 at 1:51 AM
I wrote a post reflecting on my recent experience in Tokyo as part of Autodesk's COO Leadership Development Program.
www.spletzer.com/2024/06/tokyo/
www.spletzer.com/2024/06/tokyo/
I wrote a post that is a no-nonsense guide to setting up Python environments for local development on various platforms.
Or rather, there's still _some_ inherent nonsense involved in the process, but I've tried my best to minimize it. 🙂
Or rather, there's still _some_ inherent nonsense involved in the process, but I've tried my best to minimize it. 🙂
A No-Nonsense Guide to Setting Up Python Environments | Ryan Spletzer
Python has become the lingua franca for developing various AI/ML solutions (and more), but getting started with setting up a proper Python environment can be tricky and involve several hours of resear...
www.spletzer.com
April 30, 2024 at 2:29 PM
I wrote a post that is a no-nonsense guide to setting up Python environments for local development on various platforms.
Or rather, there's still _some_ inherent nonsense involved in the process, but I've tried my best to minimize it. 🙂
Or rather, there's still _some_ inherent nonsense involved in the process, but I've tried my best to minimize it. 🙂
I wrote a post on the importance of experimentation and proofs of concept in de-risking technology decisions and system designs.
Threading the Needle | Ryan Spletzer
Back in the early part of my career, I found myself thrust into an environment that in retrospect was entirely predicated upon a waterfall design methodology. We would do big design up front, in excru...
www.spletzer.com
March 21, 2024 at 2:20 AM
I wrote a post on the importance of experimentation and proofs of concept in de-risking technology decisions and system designs.