Chris Pitts

Software delivery coach, personal coach, mentor, developer, team whisperer, mad cat man, mogfather 🐈, foster dad 🐈, ex-diver 🤿, biker 🏍️💨. Less Certified, more Certifiable. Dodgy taste in music and shirts 🎸. Old as the hills. I probably trained your CTO when she was a baby developer.

Specialist in using HI (Human Intelligence).

Located somewhere south of London, UK

Admin & Bill Payer for Mastodon server agilodon.social. Donations welcome!

#nobridge

Web: https://www.thirstybear.co.uk
Blog: https://blog.thirstybear.co.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispitts/
Help fund agilodon.social: https://ko-fi.com/coachingchris

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thirstybear_at_agilodon.social@momostr.pink

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Publishing to

saltivka.org

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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Last Notes

2026-09-01 13:59:33 UTC

Spotted elsewhere 😁
https://cdn.hosted.spacebear.ee/sb-27ceb02753a3a5193358f6bb2e831c93/media_attachments/files/117/196/139/427/046/441/original/ebcf9a32a0ffa198.png

2026-08-26 08:00:44 UTC

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Also, a friend of mine has commented regarding this whole LLM in software thing:
“It does feel a lot like a war against engineering….”
Yes. Yes it does. It is beginning to feel like a power struggle to deskill those of us who know what we’re doing. Why? Who knows. But I suspect it has something to do with money and power.
What’s that quote I saw recently?
“The underlying purpose of Al is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth."

2026-08-26 07:43:40 UTC

Well this is interesting. My old colleagues at Equal Experts took away a team’s AI tools to try and gauge the ROI on AI spend.
The team got faster. And improved their domain knowledge. And realised they were losing their coding chops(!)
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/equal-experts_a-client-asked-us-to-prove-the-roi-of-their-activity-7497914475795136513-_pc6

2026-08-15 08:04:39 UTC

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Thanks both. Sounds like I am doing all I can. I still find it bizarre that the temperature hits 25° and my brain instantly turns to mush though but hey ho 🤷‍♂️ (unfortunately I am not an early bird either so starting my day at 4 or 5am when it’s coolest is a non-starter!)

2026-08-14 11:03:26 UTC

Serious question - does anyone else have a brain that simply stops working above 25ºC? My focus simply evaporates. Deepwork slows to a crawl when it's too hot. Always has, but doubly now what with post-covid fog from 2+ years ago.
Any tips? Aside from “get air con”?

2026-07-07 20:48:17 UTC

Random, totally left field question. Does anyone have a recommendation for a drip irrigation system for a small greenhouse? Must be available in UK. No mains electricity or water but there’s a small water butt.
Preferably something someone is usuing and works well.

2026-06-24 22:53:41 UTC

Hey, I survived sports day in 1976 so I can survive this. Right? RIGHT? 🥵

2026-06-07 10:40:58 UTC

A note from one of my favourite authors at the moment.
https://cdn.hosted.spacebear.ee/sb-27ceb02753a3a5193358f6bb2e831c93/media_attachments/files/116/708/399/827/799/847/original/813dd185b7f77c41.jpeg

2026-05-03 14:41:22 UTC

In a new twist, some folks, myself included, are being asked to develop agentic LLM systems not because they are a good idea, but because “More AI!”, and because “If we don’t, someone else will”.
It is making me wonder just how many ethical developers are still out there, and if we are a dying breed.
Intelligent Development is out, Bonus Driven Development is once again in 🤷‍♂️

2025-11-24 22:47:14 UTC

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Don’t be sorry. Write to understand, grandpa. 😉

2025-11-07 12:47:16 UTC

OK, this made me chuckle rather a lot.
https://cdn.hosted.spacebear.ee/sb-27ceb02753a3a5193358f6bb2e831c93/media_attachments/files/115/508/486/663/530/650/original/edf17048cd558ade.jpeg

2025-10-02 07:12:25 UTC

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Call that a modem? THIS is a modem! 😁
https://cdn.hosted.spacebear.ee/sb-27ceb02753a3a5193358f6bb2e831c93/media_attachments/files/115/303/326/815/032/043/original/ff7557199d9e4854.jpeg

2025-09-18 06:39:23 UTC

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https://cdn.hosted.spacebear.ee/sb-27ceb02753a3a5193358f6bb2e831c93/media_attachments/files/115/223/924/554/103/228/original/3a6e2ff9f693f60b.jpeg

2025-09-03 20:57:26 UTC

Don’t you just hate it when you come across a brilliantly simple idea and jot it down somewhere safe for the future - so safe you can’t find it again?!
Someone, I think on here, mentioned a simple instant single question retrospective idea - something like “What’s worrying you?” - and now I can’t find the reference. Any ideas?

2025-07-08 18:22:38 UTC

Is anyone out there looking for a good data analyst (UK based)? Friend of mine is looking.
#fedihired

2025-06-26 18:36:43 UTC

Can’t help thinking this section of the full video is incredibly important. [@Mer__edith](https://mastodon.world/@Mer__edith ) sounding the alarm bells over “agentic AI”.
https://www.youtube.com/live/AyH7zoP-JOg?t=50m16s

2025-02-09 17:49:29 UTC

Talking of #photography….(and I just know I’m going to regret asking this). A question for all those photographers out there.
What's the secret to taking a really, really good photo? How did you learn? I'm picking up my DSLR again and would rather like to learn how to recognise and take great shots. As a techie, I can do the techie stuff….but it's the artistic eye that has always eluded me, resulting in “just snaps” (aside from some very lucky shots).

2024-12-02 08:14:57 UTC

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Funnily enough…
https://blog.thirstybear.co.uk/2024/04/your-ai-code-generators-are-your-new.html
/cc [@david_chisnall](https://infosec.exchange/@david_chisnall ) @npub10wn…f0qm

2024-09-10 12:37:20 UTC

Random question to throw into the ether hoping it lands somewhere useful
Is there an easy way to fix an EGCV valve on a Honda CBR600-RR 2007 model?
As usual, mine's got stuck again and the FI light is going flashy flashy (code 35?, for Those Who Know). The service manual and the Haynes Book of Lies are not being helpful with the stripdown/clean/replace sequence.
(Yes, removal is an option. Think you can still get a gizmo that fools the electronics into thinking the valve motor is still there)

2024-08-14 13:48:58 UTC

Before I go reinventing the wheel, is there a generally accepted way to auto-activate a #Python virtual environment if found when opening a directory?
Thx.