Automattic
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1–2 minutes
Creating a local test environment has never been easier
I set up a local Woo environment with our Studio app and got help from Claude Code. I shared a GitHub repo, and Claude installed the dev setup for me. In no time, I had a dev environment running with sample data specifically to test our focus.
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1–2 minutes
Radical Speed Month at Automattic
At Automattic, we’re kicking off a month-long experiment where teams team up to tackle problems. I teamed up with Jon to fix the annoying issue of Woo emails landing in spam folders. We’ve got plans for better logging, alerts for unsent emails, and helping merchants choose reliable delivery services.
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2–3 minutes
Everyone in support will become a team lead
In the evolving landscape of support jobs, the emphasis is shifting towards leadership skills. As AI continues to advance, support professionals will not only use AI tools but lead them. The future will reward those who harness AI effectively, becoming team leaders who guide their agents towards successful outcomes. Embrace this exciting change!
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1–2 minutes
Museum connections
So, the CEO at Automattic suggested a museum visit, and I took my kids to the National Gallery in Cape Town. We tried a fun guessing game about each other’s favourite artworks, which helped make the art experience more relatable and personal. Even the youngest joined in by expressing his likes!
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1–2 minutes
Constructive rejections
In a large team, when vacancies arise, I respond to all applicants with constructive feedback. Instead of vague rejections, I focus on areas for improvement and emphasize growth opportunities. This approach encourages enthusiasm and career development, enabling applicants to better their skills with guidance from their leads for future success.
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1–2 minutes
Near-perfect website performance
The mobile performance score for this website is 99, my desktop performance score is 100. Nearly perfect. So how did this happen? My website has always been quite smoothly running. A big part of that is the smoothness of the Twenty Twenty-Five theme and the block editor. There is not a single bit of custom
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5–7 minutes
Writing with AI as assistant
For many texts I write, the voice and ideas need to be clearly mine. Not just for the credibility aspect, but also because I want to convey my own ideas and thoughts. If I rely too heavily on AI for the actual writing, my voice would be flattened and the impact of my writing would
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1–2 minutes
Strasbourg
Last July, I visited Strasbourg for the first time in the context of a work trip. While the weather wasn’t great, Strasbourg was the perfect context for a meetup with my team: very walkable, great food options, and a hotel that had the coziness of a bnb with the advantages of a hotel. The city
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1–2 minutes
Washington, D.C.
Earlier this year, I went on a work trip to Washington, D.C. About a week after the inauguration, the city was really quiet and felt quite small and cozy somehow. It’s definitely one of the more walkable U.S. cities to get around, and upon arriving I went on a long touristy run to see all
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2–3 minutes
Lessons about work from the movie Speed
In the action movie Speed — can we call it a cult classic? — Annie (Sandra Bullock) and Jack (Keanu Reeves) end up together after a rather thrilling bus ride. With prophetic words, Jack admonishes Annie: I have to warn you, I’ve heard relationships based on intense experiences never work. The movie clearly shows they
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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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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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1–2 minutes
WordCamp Europe in Turin
Even though I’ve attended several WordCamps and have been part of the WordPress community for almost 20 years now—of which more than a decade professionally—I’d only attended one flagship WordCamp: Paris. Since our family was going to be in Europe in June, I signed up for WordCamp Europe in Turin. Here are some of the
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1–2 minutes
Frankfurt
In March, I went on my first business trip since Barcelona (almost a year before). Like the last time, I met with the senior leadership team of our support division. We met in Frankfurt, a city I had never been to before. While it was a dense time of working, I also found some time
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1–2 minutes
Barcelona
In March of this year, I went to Barcelona for a work trip. I had been twice before on a youth camp, once as participant and one as leader. It was nice to revisit the city with more freedom (and more money). We stayed in Eixample, just of Rambla de Catalunya. This meant that we
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1–2 minutes
Getting started with Woo and Paystack
Today, I presented at the Paystack bootcamp in Cape Town and gave an introduction to Woo. Since today is also the day of the rugby world cup finals, and both South Africa and New Zealand sell their fan gear with Woo, I went a bit overboard with rugby references. The scoring Both the Springboks and
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1–2 minutes
Diversity in speaker line-up: Podcast recommendation
Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on diversity in speaker line-up. Since then, two WordPress community members,Michelle and Allie, have hosted a podcast on this very topic that I would highly recommend listening to: One of the comments Michelle makes shows exactly how complex and contextual talking about diversity is. In the U.S., the
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1–2 minutes
Vienna
When I was last in Vienna, I watched my first-ever Automattic Town Hall: an online meeting with the whole company. This was a few weeks before Automattic’s acquisition of WooThemes was publicly announced. We also were provided access to our internal tools in that week, and I found a few of my new colleagues on
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1–2 minutes
New York City
In the last week of September, I had a meetup in New York City. Even though I was there only for about 70 hours, most of which I was hanging out with my colleagues, I wanted to explore this iconic city to the fullest. Given that my time zone is six hours ahead, I decided