The 10-Minute PR That Took 3 Hours
2026-03-08What appeared to be a 10-minute merge ended up being a 3-hour coding session once I started reviewing the implementation and thinking about how it should really work and why.
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Hello, I'm John.
Tech guy who ended up solving operations problems. I build software that works the way I actually think. Astryk for staying organized, Sprout Track for families tracking their kid's milestones, and Parallax for seeing operations data from new angles. 20 years of figuring out complex systems and MacGyvering solutions.
Projects
Latest Thoughts
View AllThe Plan is Never the Whole Picture: Iterating Through Development with AI
2026-02-27Even a detailed plan doesn't catch every edge case. The real work happens in the iterations that follow — and AI makes that loop faster than ever.
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The Missing Dependency: Why Human Context is the Package AI Can't Install
2025-12-23Your project compiles. The tests pass. But something is off. The problem isn't the code — it's a missing dependency that no AI agent is going to install for you: human context.
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Deploy First, Pivot Fast: How Using My Own App Killed My Original Vision
2025-11-22A journey of building a productivity tool, learning from real usage, and pivoting based on actual needs rather than assumptions.
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About Me
I started my career as a systems administrator, but I kept drifting toward the harder question: why isn't this working? That instinct pulled me into transit operations. Paratransit, microtransit, fixed route. I spent 20 years untangling complex systems and building tools to keep them running. I've always been the person who can look at a messy process, understand why it's breaking, and put something together to fix it. Usually faster and cheaper than anyone expects.
That same instinct is what drives everything I build. Sprout Track started because I needed a baby tracking app when my son was born and nothing fit. Now thousands of families self-host it. Astryk is how I stay organized and motivated. Notes and tasks living together the way my brain actually wants to work. And Parallax is the newest, giving operations teams a view of their data they're not used to seeing.
Everything lives under Open Glades. The name comes from skiing. An open glade after a snowstorm is an inviting challenge to explore. That's how I see problems too. I understand how systems work, I can see where they break, and I'd rather drop in and build the fix than wait for someone else to.
When I'm not at a keyboard, I'm spending time with my family, playing video games, skiing, or wrenching on cars. Probably in that order.
