Elizabeth Ayer

Hi! I do civic tech, product, and org design. Will be teaching #CivicTech at UW, starting Fall, '26.

My happy place is down a rabbithole, occasionally ejecting content as a proof of life. Posts usually about software, with some politics, history and philosophy thrown in, but secretly still about software.

Based in #Tacoma, superfan of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and #infrastructure in general.

Pronouns: she/her
Countries: UK/US

#productmanagement #ProductLeadership

Blog: https://medium.com/@ElizAyer
Website: https://elizabeth-ayer.com/

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Last Notes

2026-08-24 20:04:03 UTC

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There might even be a whole course on "The True Cost of 'Got a Minute?'"

2026-08-24 20:03:42 UTC

I'm imagining an alternative MBA program with exercises like,
"Estimate the total negative impact of a last-minute all-hands meeting as a function of org complexity"
and
"Design a management system that is resilient to the fact that you promoted the wrong person."

2026-05-31 14:51:41 UTC

Post-truth music innovators Milli Vanilli are still at it!
There is ongoing disagreement about what constitutes the "real" Milli Vanilli for their appearance at that upcoming political rally.
At least one of the front men is still performing, but the singers have pulled out.
Is the result real or tribute band? Who decides?
(And the real question: is this, in fact, the most GenX thing ever?)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/669/715/652/649/882/original/19fe51e24b315119.png

2026-05-04 15:09:37 UTC

Reminder: de-skilling as a trend in software engineering was already in progress well before LLMs.
Toxic productivity culture, people meeting badly-designed internal reward metrics, hopping jobs and never seeing the consequences of bad choices, plummeting quality, short-termism.
Sure LLMs add fuel to this fire, but I’m not at all convinced they’re causal.
If anything, their popularity seems more a consequence of the culture than cause.

2026-04-05 14:49:34 UTC

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Yeah, I also want to be honest with ourselves.
At least in the US, people change jobs so often -- and promotion practices are so shonky -- that the jr dev-architect flow was already under threat at scale 😕

2026-04-04 16:35:37 UTC

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The fact that we are *not* seeing wildly improving software all around us tells us everything we need to know.
There is no flourishing of value delivery, new product categories, more needs being satisfied better. It’s the opposite.
All we are seeing is decreases in quality, because 👏 code 👏 creation 👏 is not 👏 the problem.

2026-04-04 16:35:12 UTC

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So why are we still trying to optimize code creation?
For decades, people with power - executives and product people - have been shifting the blame for strategy failures and poor market insight onto development "productivity."
This AI moment should be incredibly clarifying. Like, it should be the reductio ad absurdum of a productivity-centric approach.

2026-04-04 16:33:47 UTC

I'm a big fan of this explanation/rant from Andrew Murphy.
Taken as a whole, there are many bottlenecks in a corporate software development process. The "load-bearing" calendar is a great example!
Speeding up code creation just increases pressure on the bottleneck, which decreases throughput.
https://andrewmurphy.io/blog/if-you-thought-the-speed-of-writing-code-was-your-problem-you-have-bigger-problems

2026-03-15 15:09:59 UTC

"Technology is neutral," you say?
Counterexample: Ageless Linux.
It shines a glaring spotlight on other OSs and their acceptance of bad age verification law, enacted under a pretense of child safety. In fact, these laws normalize privacy-violation and consolidate power in corporate entities without protecting children.
Other OSs comply, but Ageless Linux is a brilliant example of the potential for civil disobedience via technology.
This page alone speaks volumes: https://agelesslinux.org/map.html

2026-03-13 11:23:21 UTC

On the plus side, at least future generations won't have the cognitive skills to judge us harshly.

2026-03-11 12:32:27 UTC

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It would be great if I could go a day without seeing an article that points to the need to unionize.
I'd rather not think about @npub1qgg…0ptl 's book at all, to be honest.
https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union/

2026-03-11 12:28:17 UTC

Oh good heavens, they really are trying to bring back the company store.
Tools as part of compensation are a long-standing labor issue.
https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-compute-compensation-software-engineers-greg-brockman-2026-3

2026-01-24 17:26:37 UTC

Increasingly furious with pretty much all media outlets using the phrase "immigration crackdown."
This makes it sound tough but legitimate.
But there is no legitimate federal action that encompasses
* pepper spraying, tear gassing, and arresting peaceful protestors
* unlawfully detaining children
* stopping drivers without reasonable cause
It's a terror campaign against Minnesotans. Governor Walz called it a federal invasion.
Language matters.

2025-10-30 14:27:49 UTC

AI discourse reminds us... it's worth continually improving our hygiene when it comes to vetting information sources.
I see expert views get downplayed because the experts are "just too set in their ways" to adapt.
Meanwhile the fantasies of marketing people and dilettantes get repeated as fact.
Information provenance is going to become more and more important, for many years to come. Might as well get good at it now.

2025-09-14 16:57:57 UTC

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Yes, I'm certainly not ready to say that LLMs have no role to play in a healthy software org. It just feels a bit like what I imagine times were like before radiation was well-understood...
https://theconversation.com/when-energy-drinks-actually-contained-radioactive-energy-67976
https://www.newsweek.com/childrens-toy-1950s-uranium-radioactive-auction-1996643

2025-09-14 14:17:48 UTC

Talking to friends in software orgs recently, I've been struck by commonalities across countries and sectors:
Executives are driving "efficiency," by which they mean maximizing time spent on direct value-creation activities.
BUT there's a tacit, industry-wide assumption that writing code is the only value-creating activity and that all coding generates value.
It's like everyone has prioritized instantaneous boat speed and abandoned navigation and maintenance.
Such a reckoning coming...

2025-07-31 19:20:30 UTC

Applications open now for a post-growth* startup incubator starting the last week of August.
https://nonprofit.ventures/incubator/
Parsing notes: "Post-growth" refers to the economic worldview that we should not pursue growth as inherently good. Not that your startup has previously grown and is now post-growth.
This is an incubator for early-stage, socially impactful things! 🙂

2025-06-21 14:38:22 UTC

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What were they striking over?
Chiquita workers were striking to regain benefits after the government rolled out a significantly privatized social security system, which will now pay out variable benefits depending on investment performance.
It’s worth paying attention here; you may find similar “reforms” coming to a country near you:
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/03/19/panamanian-workers-mobilize-against-social-security-privatization/

2025-06-21 14:37:05 UTC

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According to this article (corroborated by others but this is the most detailed), the strike has ended now, with Chiquita workers having won concessions from the government:
https://www.freshfruitportal.com/news/2025/06/12/chiquita-worker-strike-in-panama-ends-banana-workers-reach-an-agreement/

2025-04-12 03:57:03 UTC

This myth-busting post from FEMA...
If you meditate on this long enough, you'll either understand America or your brain will explode like a foil-wrapped phone placed in a microwave.
https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/practitioners/integrated-public-alert-warning-system/public/myths-facts

2025-02-23 04:30:02 UTC

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Yes, I'm imagining a role rooted in care not in the sole objective of obtaining another job.
Maybe all most folks actually want *is* the next job, though, so extra human stuff would feel like misplaced luxury? I dunno.

2025-02-23 02:44:55 UTC

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yes, that seems better than the least they could do (ie nothing, or worse, spiking your future opportunities)!
Still, there's nothing as good as having someone who is, without any doubt, fully on your side. ❤️

2025-02-23 01:56:44 UTC

Why is there no such thing as an unemployment doula? Like, a person who helps with the human issues of transition and acts as an advocate with official processes? Or is there?

2025-02-19 00:20:41 UTC

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Thank you for recommending this! Do you know of any good, accessible write-ups of the threat model behind this recommendation? I think folks are struggling all the time to figure out what online protections they need, in what order, and that might help?

2025-01-11 16:24:24 UTC

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Yes, I wondered lightly if there was a companion piece waiting to be written about the organizational context that supports this.... 🤔

2025-01-11 15:46:33 UTC

This article from [@bert_hubert](https://fosstodon.org/@bert_hubert ) spells out the principles of sustainable software development really, really well.
If you have a decision that is in any way a close call, I say go with the choice that embodies these principles.
Your future team (which might include you) will thank you.
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/on-long-term-software-development/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/810/452/803/516/744/original/707e4d2f0b35ae1e.png

2024-12-13 14:30:03 UTC

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I'm sure many don't actually understand. I suspect that the word "security" being used both for information security and the thing that people with guns do only adds to the confusion.

2024-12-12 14:10:29 UTC

The FBI updated its guidance from last week about switching to encrypted messaging platforms. It clarified that it only meant people should use "responsibly managed" encryption. Specifically,
"This encryption should be designed to protect people’s privacy and also managed so U.S. tech companies can provide readable content in response to a lawful court order."
Dang. For a minute there I thought they finally understood.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/12/11/fbi-warns-iphone-android-users-change-whatsapp-facebook-messenger-signal-apps/

2024-10-28 14:37:51 UTC

Long shot, but...
Do I know anyone in Ottawa who wants to lend me a bicycle for a few days?

2024-09-07 18:46:18 UTC

Very niche excitement....
As a cyclist in the US I'm endlessly frustrated by Dead End signs that don't apply to bikes.
In many cases, there's a legal way through for cyclists, but up until recently there was no legal *sign* in the US for this.
But NOW THERE IS!!!! The 2024 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways has added an "Except Bicycles" plaque.
So. Excited. Now time to go make nice with the #Tacoma traffic engineering dept...
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/097/721/303/179/594/original/d685f1c793779e4a.png