Tech Blog: AI, Automation & Software Development

Latest

Graphic “Feel less alone. Use AI apps at work.” On the left an orange panel “Cool new AI app”, where dozens of eyes stare at a file; on the right a light panel “Old, ‘boring’ software” with a locked file and a small, bored team.

Balane OfficeOctober 19, 202611 min

“We'll just build it ourselves.” Now with an audience.

1 in 76 apps from AI app builders exposes sensitive data on the open web. I'm building an office suite with AI, without a central database. A debate, with evidence.

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Bar chart on a light background under the title “Thanks, Microsoft. For my office.” Two tall black bars for 13 billion dollars to OpenAI and 5 billion to Anthropic, next to them an orange line for less than 50 dollars of subscription per week.

Balane OfficeOctober 16, 202614 min

Why doesn't a company just build its own Office?

I built my own office suite with AI in about 10 hours of work, for less than a weekly subscription. Does that mean every company should build its own Office? The three usual objections, examined one by one: maintenance, Word files, risk. With numbers, sources and an honest answer.

Dark background with two rows of file extensions. On top the standards DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, ODT, ODS and ODP as light outlines, below the suite's own formats .bdoc, .bsheet, .bslides, .bform and .breport in orange. Below them the title “Is AI eating its own makers?”.

Balane OfficeOctober 15, 20264 min

Is AI eating its own makers? I rebuilt Office

I rebuilt Office. Not decompiled, but the way I've wanted it for years. Built with AI from the US. Is AI eating its own makers, and what does that mean for our dependence?

A brown tonic bottle wearing a shirt collar and tie, labelled 'Universal tonic for communication, digitalisation, transformation and AI', with a price tag of €2,000 per day and a red stamp 'Effect not proven'

ThoughtsOctober 14, 202616 min

Snake Oil in a Tailored Suit: Why Classic Consulting Is a Dying Model

Snake oil used to come in a brown bottle from a traveling salesman. Today it comes as a slide deck, with a day rate and a partner title. On an industry that claims expertise in everything, has rarely built anything itself, likes to leave responsibility for the result with the client and has lost track of itself. And on what works instead.

By topic

AI & Automation

Where AI actually holds up in operations and where it just looks expensive. Automation with n8n, Odoo and custom models, explained on real processes.

All 28 articles

Lottery balls and a bar chart in which AI and random sit practically level

AI & AutomationJune 26, 202611 min

Statistical Deception — Predicting Lottery Numbers with AI

A neural network, 70 years of draw data, hundreds of lines of code — and in the end the AI is exactly as accurate as a chicken pecking at numbers. With an interactive simulator to try it yourself.

A wrench in front of an overheating data center — a metaphor for treating AI as a tool rather than a miracle

AI & AutomationJune 17, 202616 min

Tool, Not Miracle: How SMEs Use AI as an Amplifier — and Where to Leave It Alone

The AI boom is burning capital and electricity at a historic scale — while nearly half of corporate projects fail before they reach production. Why AI is a powerful tool but not a miracle, and how SMEs use it as an amplifier instead of a replacement.

A single-point-of-failure node diagram feeding one red hub, above a 'rented to owned' spectrum bar — the case for European digital sovereignty

AI & AutomationJune 13, 202613 min

The Switch-Off: Why Europe Has to Stop Renting Its Intelligence

A thought experiment: one US directive switches off two frontier AI models worldwide. A field guide to Europe's dependency — and the barriers we have to remove to build our own.

Leadership & Teams

Leading technical teams without losing sight of the technology. Decisions, conflict, and what organisations do to themselves.

All 18 articles

Three abstract figures side by side, one highlighted as the cover image for the article „Situational Leadership: The Right Leadership Style for Every Situation“

Leadership & TeamsFebruary 2, 202613 min

Situational Leadership: The Right Leadership Style for Every Situation

One leadership style doesn't fit all. Learn the Situational Leadership Model and how to adapt your style to the person, task, and context.

A path that splits, with only one branch carried on as the cover image for the article „Making Decisions: Frameworks and Techniques for Tech Leaders“

Leadership & TeamsJanuary 22, 202614 min

Making Decisions: Frameworks and Techniques for Tech Leaders

The quality of your decisions determines the quality of your results. Learn frameworks like RAPID, 10/10/10, and OODA for better decisions in tech teams.

A grid of cells with a single cell claimed in colour as the cover image for the article „Stakeholder Management: How to Navigate Complex Interests as a Tech Leader“

Leadership & TeamsJanuary 12, 202615 min

Stakeholder Management: How to Navigate Complex Interests as a Tech Leader

80% of project problems are people problems. Learn how to identify stakeholders, understand their interests, and create win-win situations.

Thoughts

Longer thoughts that fit no category. Technology, work, and the patterns underneath.

All 18 articles

A quote card with a footnote mark, and below it a second, greyed-out sentence with an ember arrow pointing at its start.

ThoughtsOctober 11, 20266 min

Popper Wrote a Second Sentence

The paradox of tolerance is one of the most shared philosophy quotes online. It sits in a footnote, and right after it comes a sentence that is almost always missing. It turns a license to exclude into a test: can I still answer this with an argument?

An ink-drawn wing chair with the table of a dinner party behind it, and a redaction bar cutting across the chair itself.

ThoughtsSeptember 22, 20268 min

Contempt on LinkedIn: Thomas Bernhard Described the Pillory Back in 1984

They post redacted DMs and call the sender incompetent. The same people send the same soulless garbage. Hypocrisy would be the kind explanation. Thomas Bernhard wrote the book on this in 1984: contempt that leaves the critic out is not criticism. It is a pose.

A bridge arch whose maintenance marks have come loose and now lie underneath it as an ember finish line, while the deck cracks open at the crown.

ThoughtsSeptember 21, 202612 min

Fukuyama Was Right. Just in the Part Nobody Quotes.

“The End of History” is filed as the most famous failed prediction of the postwar era. But the title has two halves, and the second one describes exactly what everyone uses to refute the first. On recognition as a currency that cannot be divided, and on a state nobody maintains because it counts as reached.

Books

Books read as instruments rather than retold as summaries: what holds up, what does not, and where it bites at work.

All 13 articles

A short bar on an axis whose scale multiplies by ten several times while the bar stays the same length

BooksSeptember 3, 202613 min

You Are Not a Fact in Your Own Life

Wittgenstein's Tractatus ends by telling you to throw it away. Before that it takes apart the question everyone asks wrongly: not how much you know, but which side the answer could even be on. It is not the side made of facts. With three drawn scenes that run as you scroll.

A shelf of grey book spines with a single spine pulled up out of the row in the accent colour

BooksAugust 12, 202612 min

Buy the Books You Will Never Read

An unread book is not a failed read. It is a purchased option on a question you do not have yet. Why a shelf does something no folder, no store account and no chat window can do. With two drawn scenes to scroll through.

Reading note on The Smartest Guys in the Room: a monumental column split by a molten crack at its base

BooksJuly 12, 202623 min

The Smartest Guys in the Room: why the smartest guys are always the last to notice

Enron didn't die of fraud. It died of a company that had trained itself out of hearing the word no. A reading note on Jeff Skilling as Achilles. And on what that has to do with Nvidia's $42 billion and the memo nobody wants to write.

Odoo & CRM

ERP and CRM projects from practice: Odoo, migrations off legacy systems, data quality, and what a system actually needs to do.

All 11 articles

A four-stage funnel with a highlighted exit as the cover image for the article „Technical Deep Dive: How CRM Outreach Campaigns Works Under the Hood“

Odoo & CRMNovember 10, 202510 min

Technical Deep Dive: How CRM Outreach Campaigns Works Under the Hood

Architecture, data model, mail handling, and design decisions of the Odoo CRM Outreach Campaigns module. Written for Odoo developers and technical evaluators.

Odoo CRM sender selection with multiple SMTP servers

Odoo & CRMNovember 6, 20258 min

Odoo CRM: Multiple Sender Addresses with Different SMTP Servers

How to configure multiple sender addresses and SMTP servers in Odoo 18 CRM for better deliverability and personalized outreach.

A four-stage funnel with a highlighted exit as the cover image for the article „Cold Email Templates for Odoo CRM: Best Practices, Examples & Placeholders“

Odoo & CRMNovember 3, 20259 min

Cold Email Templates for Odoo CRM: Best Practices, Examples & Placeholders

How to write effective cold email templates for Odoo CRM Outreach. With concrete examples, placeholder reference, and tips for better reply rates.

Explore by topic

Latest

“We'll just build it ourselves.” Now with an audience.

Why doesn't a company just build its own Office?

Is AI eating its own makers? I rebuilt Office

Snake Oil in a Tailored Suit: Why Classic Consulting Is a Dying Model