# Josh Hornby

> Personal blog on software engineering, engineering leadership, and building products.

Written by Josh Hornby, an engineering leader based in the UK. Posts cover practical lessons from building software teams and products, with a focus on real experience over theory.

## Links

- [About](https://joshhornby.com/about): Background on Josh Hornby
- [Start Here](https://joshhornby.com/start-here): Curated introduction to the best posts by topic
- [Written with AI](https://joshhornby.com/written-with-ai): How AI is used to write posts on this site

## Recent Posts


- [Vibe Coding vs Agentic Engineering](https://joshhornby.com/vibe-coding-vs-agentic-engineering): Vibe coding and agentic engineering use the same tools but differ on one thing: whether you keep the specify-and-review discipline. The skill teams need is knowing which mode the work deserves.

- [The Tech Lead Trap](https://joshhornby.com/the-tech-lead-trap): The tech lead role can become a dead end if you're not careful. How to spot when you're trapped, and what to do about it.

- [Inheriting a Struggling Team](https://joshhornby.com/inheriting-a-struggling-team): You've taken on a team with low morale, deep technical debt and no clear direction. What to do first, and what takes longer than you'd like.

- [Giving Hard Feedback](https://joshhornby.com/giving-hard-feedback): How to raise a performance issue, an attitude problem or a skill gap in a way that's direct without being cruel, and that leads to change.

- [Making Technical Decisions Stick](https://joshhornby.com/making-technical-decisions-stick): Technical decisions get revisited, ignored, or forgotten unless you make them stick. ADRs, RFCs, or just conversations? Match the documentation to the decision's weight.

- [Scope Creep and How to Fight It](https://joshhornby.com/scope-creep-and-how-to-fight-it): Scope creep kills projects slowly, one small addition at a time, until the original timeline is impossible. How to spot it early and have the conversation.

- [Sentry AI Tracing with Laravel's AI SDK](https://joshhornby.com/sentry-ai-tracing-laravel-ai-sdk): Laravel now has an official AI SDK with built-in events. Sentry tracing goes from manual wrapping to a single event listener.

- [When to Say No](https://joshhornby.com/when-to-say-no): Saying no is one of the most important skills for a tech lead. When to do it, how to phrase it, and how to keep the credibility that makes it work.

- [Managing Up](https://joshhornby.com/managing-up-as-tech-lead): Your engineering manager needs information from you to do their job. What to tell them, how to advocate for your team, and how to influence decisions you don't control.

- [Working with Designers](https://joshhornby.com/working-with-designers): The tech lead and designer relationship has its own friction points. When to push back on designs, how to collaborate early, and what to do about the 'pixel perfect' argument.


## Topics

- Engineering leadership and team management
- AI/LLM integration patterns
- Product management and project planning
- Software architecture and technical decisions