Architecture Decision Records That People Actually Write and Read

Architecture Decision Records That People Actually Write and Read

Most teams either skip documenting architecture decisions entirely or create heavyweight documents everyone ignores. ADRs fix this - but only when they’re lightweight enough to write during the decision, structured enough to answer ‘why did we do that?’ six months later, and stored where people actually look. Here’s a practical approach with a template that sticks.

23 December 2025 · 10 min · 1929 words · Paul McIlreavy
Software Development: Engineering or Science?

Software Development: Engineering or Science?

Software development has more in common with scientific research than engineering. Using the Cynefin framework, this post looks at why building a bridge is a complicated problem, why building software is a complex one, and why that difference explains Waterfall’s failures and Agile’s fit.

28 January 2025 · 9 min · 1874 words · Paul McIlreavy
Allen Holub presenting at YOW! Brisbane 2024

Allen Holub @ YOW! Brisbane 2024

A brief summary of Allen Holub’s “Getting Buy-In: Overcoming Larman’s Law” at the YOW! Brisbane conference December 2024.

23 January 2025 · 5 min · 979 words · Paul McIlreavy
Deploying AnythingLLM as an Azure Container Instance

Deploying AnythingLLM as an Azure Container Instance

Some notes on deploying AnythingLLM in an Azure Container Instance using Bicep, ensuring persistent storage. AnythingLLM allows you to use multiple LLMs, using your existing API keys, with one UI.

2 October 2024 · 9 min · 1912 words · Paul McIlreavy
Enabling HTTPS on Azure Container Instances with Caddy

Enabling HTTPS on Azure Container Instances with Caddy

Learn how to deploy an Azure Container Instance (ACI) container group with HTTPS enabled using Caddy. This guide walks through deploying a Hello World app and securing it with SSL using a Bicep template.

23 September 2024 · 6 min · 1258 words · Paul McIlreavy