Life
Up to London for LDX3 2026 at The O2 on June 2 — a day trip via Euston for one of the better engineering leadership conferences around. Day 2 had some genuine standouts: Ian Coldwater on why leaders need to be the psychological "adult in the room" when others won't be, Danit Nativ (Meta) on how AI is reshaping coding interviews and what that means for hiring, and Dominika Rogala's breakdown of the four dimensions of engineering manager burnout — exhaustion, emotional distance, reduced efficacy, and identity gap. Spent plenty of time on the floor networking and handing out PETALS quarterly planners, with some really useful conversations about team health metrics. Also relaunched the marketing site at usepetals.com while I was there.
On The Side is a community for people working on projects alongside their day jobs — and we wrapped the week with one of our Friday after-hours chats. Topics ranged from Chad's coast-to-coast US skating trip and Woz printing his own money, to Trovster taking selfies with farm animals on a rural walk. Always one of the highlights of the week. If you've got something on the side, come along — we meet Mondays and Fridays.
A full Saturday shop on May 31 — recycling centre, M&S Foodhall, Boots, Sainsbury's, Margarets, and Lidl all in one loop around North Oxford. The Domino's on the Thursday evening was much better. Weight's nudging down: 80.6kg on June 1 to 80.0kg by June 5, helped by keeping the pool sessions and morning walks consistent even around the London travel day.