For the people who build, own, and operate.

InsanelyGreat

We enable those who want to make their own dent in the Universe.

The After Effort Project · Course & Software
After Effort
The disciplined use of AI in teaching. A tool helps a student most when it comes after their own effort, not in place of it — the professional-development course, and its software companion, UpwardTeaching.
Explore the project →
Methodology · v2.2 · SSD 2.0
Shippable States Development
Ship every day. No exceptions. A pragmatic AI-powered discipline that keeps your software deployable at all times — now one progressively-disclosed surface for newcomer and expert alike.
Learn more →
Manifesto
Agile2
The ability to be agile about your agile. Process is a tool, not an identity. If it doesn't increase velocity, change it.
Read the manifesto →
Reference Architecture · v0.9.5
Domain-Adaptive Manufacturing
Software that builds and configures itself to the reality of the manufacturer. From a two-person startup to Nestlé or Apple. Standardize the physics, bespoke the experience.
Read the architecture →
New in SSD 2.0
One surface, progressively disclosed.
The developer-profile concept is gone — a single system serves newcomer and expert. Type /ssd and it proposes the next step, naming the command it runs; every verb stays directly invokable. Enforcement is warnings, not walls, and /ssd upgrade migrates older projects forward.
See what's new
Essays

For solo developers and small teams

Opinionated articles on the questions small teams actually face.

Manifesto

The Solo Developer's Engineering Manifesto

Engineering practice for the developer who is also the PM, QA, DevOps, and support team.

 Comparison

Methodologies for Small Teams: An Honest Comparison

Scrum, Kanban, Shape Up, XP, and SSD — for teams of 1–5.

 Critique

Why Standard Scrum Fails Small Teams

Scrum was designed for 5–9. Below 3, the ceremony costs more than it delivers.

 Quality

Code Quality Without a QA Team: The Ratchet Principle

Encode quality in CI. The teeth of the ratchet are tests, types, and lint rules.

 Releases

How Small Teams Should Think About Releases

Decouple deploy from release. Make the release a flag flip and a changelog entry.

 Simplification

The Simplest Engineering Lifecycle That Actually Works

Most lifecycle complexity is scar tissue from past deployment trauma.