Everyone’s giving backlash on GPT5. I like it, personally. I hated how sycophantic previous versions were. The last thing I want is a “yes man” in my ear all-day.
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Alex Standiford
So I’m in a hospital. Apparently they have to sedate me to get this brisket that’s thoroughly lodged in my esophagus out.
Best Saturday ever!
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When to Pull in an Outside Tech Partner
I used to think I was doing developers a favor by keeping them out of the early planning. Turns out, I was just setting them up to fail. Here’s what I’ve learned about when to actually bring in outside help, and why timing makes all the difference.
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Alex Standiford
Stop hiring heroes. If your agency is juggling complex builds and you keep solving delivery problems by bringing in a “rockstar freelancer” to save the day, you’re probably making things worse.
I know, because I’ve done it, and I’ve also been the hero in this example.
I brought in someone great, experienced, fast, trustworthy. Things moved. I relaxed. And then they got sick. Or went silent. Or took another gig. Suddenly, everything stopped…and I had no idea what was happening under the hood.
That’s the thing about heroes. They’re a single point of failure you feel really good about, right up until you don’t.
The shortcuts pile up quietly:
- No backup.
- No documentation.
- No one else on the team understands how the thing is wired together.
And all of that feels “fine” until it doesn’t. When something slips, you take the hit.
These days, I build with scaffolding instead.
- Redundancy, so the work doesn’t stop if someone steps away.
- Accountability, so the system holds up under pressure.
- Shared process, so no one’s flying solo with the only copy of the map.
That’s the real reason I built Novatorius. I wanted to help my business grow without reinventing process every time I needed help. And to offer that kind of support to other agencies that just need a boost without lighting their own team on fire.
If you’re tired of holding your breath during crunch time, stop hiring heroes, and start building scaffolding that makes heroics unnecessary.
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Alex Standiford
If you have a blog, I strongly recommend that you take some time to let ChatGPT do deep research on your website and audit your writing style and turn it into a style guide that helps match your writing tone.
It never gets it perfect, but does get it a little closer.
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Alex Standiford
It occurred to me this morning that the 418 “I’m a Teapot” response no-longer has the punch it used to have because it could theoretically be literally sent as a response by a teapot. In which case it would need to be a 200 response. 😂
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Alex Standiford
Does anyone actually LIKE the email-based sign in flow? It enrages me 😅
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Alex Standiford
I just discovered Firefox finally added support for tab lists in the side instead of on-top. As an ultrawide monitor person, I’m very very pleased by this development.
Although I have to admit, a lifetime of tabs being up-top is hard to break. 🙃
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Alex Standiford
I always laughed at how many open tabs people had open in their browser. I’ve always been a “one tab” kinda person.
And then I started running my own business. That uh…that humbled me a bit.
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Alex Standiford
Y’ALL IT HAPPENED. ChatGPT’s research feature just referenced me in its own research while generating a report…for me.
This feels a lot like when I used to search Stack Overflow for an answer to a question…only to find that I was the one who previously answered that question.
Does this mean I made it? Am I famous now?
