FROM THE TRENCHES Issue №288

Practical decisions for AI and software

Technical guides to choose models, verify software and plan delivery.

Latest articles

New comparisons, practical guides and engineering lessons.

Ethereum to Solana migration cost teardown Web3 & Privacy

Ethereum to Solana Migration Cost

Scope an Ethereum-to-Solana migration from program semantics, accounts, assets, wallets, data, operations, security, state transition, and user continuity.

Zero-knowledge proof use cases outside crypto Web3 & Privacy

Zero-Knowledge Outside Crypto

Six non-crypto ZK use cases. Privacy-preserving KYC, age verification, supply chain provenance, private credentials, confidential ML inference.

Account abstraction ERC-4337 in production Web3 & Privacy

Account Abstraction in Production

What ERC-4337 enables, what depends on the wallet implementation, how EIP-7702 changes EOAs, and which bundler, paymaster, recovery, and upgrade risks to test.

Road to PMF Product & MVP

A Measurable Road to Product-Market Fit

Product-market fit is not a badge or a single survey score. Define a market and use segment-specific evidence from activation, retention, willingness to pay, acquisition, and service economics.

Feature fabric Product & MVP

Escaping the Feature Trap with Evidence

Feature volume is not a product strategy. Learn how to connect backlog decisions to user evidence, product goals, risk, operating cost, and measurable outcomes.

Software a breathing organism header Delivery & QA

Software Is a Living Product

Software needs deliberate planning, delivery, operation, and maintenance. Here is a practical lifecycle for making those responsibilities visible.

Test Driven Development Delivery & QA

What Test-Driven Development Can and Cannot Prove

TDD can tighten feedback and make intended behavior executable, but it is not a guarantee of defect-free or secure software. Use it as one layer in a risk-based testing strategy.

Evidence-based review of software agency project risks Business & Regulation

Why Software Agency Projects Disappoint

A buyer-side framework for outcomes, scope, evidence, quality, risk allocation, pricing, governance, changes, and supplier accountability.

Agile Fixed Pricing Header Business & Regulation

Choosing a Software Project Pricing Model

Compare time-based, fixed-price, and staged hybrid models by uncertainty, change control, acceptance criteria, budget limits, and delivery evidence.

Inbox, without the noise

Get the next field note

One concise email when we publish. No tracking pixels, and no inbox filler.