Articles

Writing about technology, artificial intelligence, startups, and the occasional descent into political satire.

Another Article Not About COBOL

IBM lost $40 billion because a blog post said AI could translate COBOL. But automated COBOL migration has existed for years. The hard part was never the code — it's reproducing what the mainframe actually does.

Mar 4, 2026·7 min read·Paul Seymour

#leadership#software-engineering

Lighthouse Principles: Navigating Uncertainty

Guiding principles that help businesses navigate uncertainty. At Patient Zero our Way of Working reflects such principles — hard-won and adaptable.

Mar 3, 2026·3 min

#ai#software-engineering#leadership

When Can I Replace My Software Developers with AI?

Spoiler: You can't. But AI is an accelerator, not a replacement — and the organisations getting the biggest gains aren't the ones buying more AI tools.

Mar 3, 2026·8 min

#ai#politics#tech

How I Accidentally Started Trying to Start a Political Party

What started as a train conversation about politics between two mates became an attempt to register a political party. Turns out you need 1,500 Australians to agree it's a good idea before the AEC will even look at you. I'm working on it.

Mar 3, 2026·7 min

#developer-experience#leadership#startups

Why T&M Contracts Suck the Life out of Your Development Project

Money is a powerful motivator, but it fails without strong alignment between individual and organisational values. Maslow should be a pie, not a pyramid.

Mar 3, 2026·6 min

#agile#software-engineering

The Quality vs Quantity Myth

An art teacher, two groups, and a pile of ceramic vases. Why the group focused on quantity also produced the highest quality.

Mar 3, 2026·3 min

#agile#software-engineering

The Ubiquitous Language of Agile

Enterprises think they're doing Agile because they have sprints and stand-ups. SMEs think they're struggling. The reality is often the reverse.

Mar 3, 2026·4 min

#microservices#software-engineering#leadership

Cultural Warning Signs You Are Not Ready For Microservices

The productivity gains of microservices come from team autonomy. If your culture can't support autonomous teams, microservices will make things worse, not better.

Mar 3, 2026·5 min

#ai#software-engineering#tech

Human of the Gaps

The gaps where humans still outperform AI are shrinking. The question isn't whether they'll close — it's what we do while we're still in them.

Mar 3, 2026·7 min