CTO @amberelectricAU. Previously head of tech @99designs/@envato, advisor @buildkite. Nautical history and retro computing nerd. opinions own, he / him

Melbourne, Australia
Joined July 2007
Strong co-sign
The "whiteboard defense:" I should be able to pull you aside at any moment and ask you to explain any customer-facing system you've shipped. You should be able to clearly explain how it works and defend the decisions you made. This is my benchmark for responsible AI usage. I don't expect line-level familiarity with the code. I don't care if you remember the exact function name or implementation detail. You may not even know it. I don't care. But if I ask "why did you do X instead of Y?", "what happens if this actor behaves maliciously?", "what data structure did you use here and why?", or "where does this fail?" you should be able to answer confidently. For PoCs, demos, experiments, whatever: I don't care. Generate 100% of it and understand none of it. Speed over quality every time in those specific scenarios. But if you're shipping customer-facing work, you can't be shipping things you don't understand at a high level.
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Cleanroom 0.7 is out. Cleanroom runs repo workloads inside policy-controlled microVM sandboxes (linux and macOS): explicit network egress, host-held credentials, reproducible checkouts, and cached dependency traffic. 0.7 makes that usable for real dev loops: workspace sync, port exposure, stage-scoped egress, and reusable dependency/service outputs. github.com/buildkite/cleanro… github.com/buildkite/cleanro…
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We’ve just taken a big step forward in the energy revolution. By joining forces with @AmberElectricAU and @Gentrack, we're launching a dynamic energy pricing model that puts real power in the hands of households with solar panels, home batteries and EVs. That means using energy when it’s cheapest – and selling it back when prices are high. It’s a smarter way to live with renewables. And it’s a major step towards a more democratic, flexible and green energy system. Homes don’t have to be passive consumers anymore. With the right tech, they can help balance the grid and bring down carbon – all while reducing bills. This is what the energy transition looks like. Big thanks to @BusinessGreen for covering our latest innovation. Read more here: businessgreen.com/news/44132… #GreenEnergy #SmartHomes #NetZero
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Is there a consensus view on which orgs have done distributed/multi-timezone work (remote, multi-office, etc) "best"? Who do you look up to (ie steal ideas from) on ways of working with global teams?
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Another @AmberElectricAU monthly electricity bill And yet another credit My credit balance is rapidly building. I really didn’t expect my second Powerwall to generate so much incremental revenue so quickly Big change from a year ago
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Love charging your EV for free? So do we. ⚡️ Launching today, Amber for EVs unlocks all the free kilometres possible by combining access to dynamic wholesale energy and smart charging automation. Head to amber.com.au/ev for more info on the free-est charging out there.
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Raise your hand if you think it sucks that there have been FIVE Pirates of the Caribbean movies but only ONE Master and Commander film.
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I found my favourite FAQ on our customer service site
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I’m going to be at @Everyth1ngElec today at the @AmberElectricAU stand from 12-2:30pm talking about all things wholesale green energy and showing off my insane savings! Stop by if you’re around! 😎
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Buy low, sell high. Getting paid to both buy and sell electricity is pretty neat. #MyWeekWithAmber @AmberElectricAU – at Melbourne, Victoria
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I know it sucks for a product team to read whinging about their hard work on twitter but @SlackHQ i'm really struggling with the new design - i feel this diabolical combination that i'm underwater AND missing things all at once
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We've abused my account so much in testing #myweekwithamber that it thinks I haven't been on @AmberElectricAU for 3 months yet 😂 But I've been doing well all spring. Got an EV now and it's so much cheaper than buying ⛽
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Just the ones in @GreatDismal's buzz ricksons collection buzzricksons.jp/tag/william-…
Question for men: I recently found out that some men think about cool jackets at least once a day. Like a jacket they once saw. Or a jacket they desire. Or how if they owned a specific jacket, they would wear it to this nice little thing. Menfolk, do you all do this?
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This week's fun @AmberElectricAU IoT discovery is that some inverters we integrate with are powered by the panels themselves, and when the sun goes down... they turn off... ...which looks identical to our systems as a comms error, so we just... ignore errors after dark...
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I’m going to share with you all something I shared with someone on an advisory call this week: Stop rewarding the academic theater of PM best practices. I’m tired of folks thinking you put insights into a magical PM framework and a great business spits out the other end.
Product Managers on Reddit Are Giving Up 🫡🥲
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Retail energy prices may be going up, but wholesale energy prices are actually falling. Stoked to be featured on @9NewsAUS last night. Thanks to Amber customers like Kurt for helping shift Australia to a greener, cheaper energy future 💚 youtube.com/watch?v=_rwrFofx…
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