Kazhdan's Log

Latest 2026-08-11 7 min read

The Map Has to Keep Up With the Code

Code arrives faster than anyone can build a mental model of it. Diffs show what changed; nothing shows what the system now is. The fix isn't reading faster - it's a model of the architecture that lives in the repo.

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Earlier posts

2026-07-21 How to Rescue Software You're Afraid to Touch Unmaintainable doesn't mean ugly or old. It means unchangeable without fear. Here's how AI quietly changed the economics of getting that fear back under control. 5 min read
2026-07-19 I Was Wrong About Five-Star Developers A few months ago I wrote that everyone is a five-star developer now. That the gap between juniors and seniors is shrinking because the tools 3 min read
2026-03-22 Everyone Is a Five-Star Developer Now Something is happening right now that I don't think enough people are talking about. The gap between a junior and a senior developer? It 3 min read
2026-03-07 The API Spec Is Where Your Teams Finally Meet I've seen it too many times. Backend builds an endpoint, frontend integrates against it, and somewhere along the way things don't ma 2 min read