Job
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3–4 minutes
Featured images with ChatGPT
For years, I’ve used photos from Unsplash and similar platforms to add as featured images to blog posts I’ve written. When sharing a link or when creating an archive page for my posts, I prefer having a visual element to work with. With stock images though, I find myself either spending too much time or
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2–4 minutes
10 years at Automattic
In May 2015, WooThemes announced that Automattic had acquired it. I had been working for Woo since October 2014 — so just under 8 months — and in July 2015 we officially started as Automatticians. That’s a decade ago this month. 🤯 Ownership The time has gone incredibly fast, and I cannot emphasise enough how
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3–5 minutes
Compatibility in an age of vibe coding
Anyone who offers code or support in the WordPress ecosystem knows this paradox: customisability is WordPress’ biggest strength, but it’s also its biggest risk. It’s a strength because nearly everything someone wants is possible. I’ve been working in support for a decade now, and I rarely needed to say: “that’s not possible.” If the functionality
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1–2 minutes
Montagu & Plettenberg Bay
Right before the end of my parental leave in October, we went on a holiday. We stayed in Guano Caves in Montagu. The pool was very legit, and our kids loved the animals on the grounds. Then, we continued to Plett, and stayed at the holiday home of a colleague. We’ve been to Plett several
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2–4 minutes
Change my mind
The piece emphasizes the importance of being open to changing one’s mind in leadership, drawing on Hannah Arendt’s philosophy of shared understanding. Effective leaders invite early feedback, focus on arguments rather than opinions, and encourage exploration of diverse viewpoints to foster stronger strategies and collaborative decision-making, ultimately enhancing organizational outcomes.
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3–5 minutes
Why I share my own performance reviews
A few years ago, I started sharing the feedback I get about my performance with my team. Some people are taken aback by that at first, but ultimately, it helps us as a group of leaders. If you’re a senior leader, you should consider sharing the feedback you get. Here’s why I think it matters.
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2–3 minutes
Bum sweets
Our Easter weekend was pretty horrible: all four of us were sick somehow. Yesterday morning, we took our kids to the GP. When going over the medicine we had used, Kim burst out laughing. She couldn’t remember the English word “suppository”. I straight away knew why she was laughing. That is because in Flanders, we
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1–2 minutes
Summer holidays
During last year’s summer holidays, we had a 1mo baby, so we didn’t travel much at all. In the most recent summer, we changed that. We celebrated our anniversary at Skilpadvlei in Stellenbosch. Then, we spent a few days in Oudtshoorn where we soaked in the dry heat, and had the most wonderful time in
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1–2 minutes
Google Calendar’s appointments
For ages, it was a nightmare to easily set up appointments, and you’d have to rely on services like Calendly to do so. However, recently, Google Calendar started offering a bookable appointment schedule. I’ve started using that in my work context as well, but it’s available to any free Google Calendar user. You can easily:
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1–2 minutes
Why your airport Wi-Fi may not work
Over the past few years, being able to connect to airport Wi-Fi seemed to be luck of the draw. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. The most frustrating was that I could never have the modal window to sign in to the Wi-Fi network. So what was the solution? I found that using custom DNS
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2–3 minutes
Orval’s remembrance
In Belgium, when you order an abbey beer, tradition takes over. The waiter carefully finds the right glass, placing both bottle and glass with the label facing to you. Then, with a precision most Belgians will learn at some point throughout their life, pours the beer, forming a perfect collar that curves just over the
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2–3 minutes
My 2024 in books
I consider myself a fairly avid reader, but parenting an infant for most of 2024 resulted in me being in a constant state of tiredness. In the first part, I barely read because I simply couldn’t concentrate on books, especially in the evening when normally is my prime reading time. After returning to South Africa
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4–6 minutes
Moving to Twenty Twenty-Five
Every year, WordPress releases a new theme. Most years, I try to update my site to use this theme. I find this a great way to explore WordPress—the software I work with professionally on a daily basis—from a user perspective. The Twenty Twenty-Two theme was the first one to introduce full site editing, as I
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3–5 minutes
2024 Running goals
In my 2023 running recap, I hinted at doing my first marathon. Our son had just been born, and I had no clue what was going to be possible, so I didn’t want to commit to anything just yet. My first marathon At the beginning of this year, I decided to enter the Sanlam Cape
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1–2 minutes
Luca & Nijntje
Since Mila’s second birthday, I’ve started having fun with fondant to make cake toppers for her birthdays. At the end of November, we celebrated Luca’s first year on earth, so I guess it’s now two cake toppers per year. Luca is obsessed with a night light we have of Nijntje (Miffy), so it was an
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2–3 minutes
Using AI to apply as Happiness Engineer
Since I posted that we’re hiring in Woo Happiness, my LinkedIn inbox has been flooded with people seeking advice on how to apply, wanting to share their résumé with me, and asking why they didn’t make it through to a next round. While I understand these questions, they ironically also often pose a red flag
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3–4 minutes
Switching to Colemak
Shortly after WooThemes was acquired by Automattic, we went on “Grand Meetup”, the annual company-wide in-person meeting. There, I heard Matt talk about “Dvorak” for the first time: an alternative keyboard layout that was designed for both speed and comfort of writing. Rubber keyboard layovers were up for grabs and I tested it for a
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1–2 minutes
Paris
On the way back from Italy, we needed to go via Paris for an admin issue. During the 2024 Olympics … 😱 We were prepared for the worst, but it was actually the calmest we’d ever seen the city. It seemed that everyone avoided the city unless they were planning to see the Olympics. After
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1–2 minutes
Ventimiglia & Monaco
Next to spending time with my family in Belgium and France, we also wanted to have some time as a small family unit. We drove to the first town in Italy: Ventimiglia. There, we mostly spent time at the beach. Mila and I also explored the old town together. Since neither of us had been
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1–2 minutes
Mâcon & Pierrelongue
A few months ago, we were in Europe for a bit. We spent about a month in Ypres, but my favourite part was a camping trip with my parents, and two of my siblings and their families. Because of the long drive and not knowing how Luca would handle it, we stopped in Mâcon, a