Reflection on Og Maciel's Journal

Built To Last

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Built To Last

On learning by building, lowering the bar to entry, and the quiet legacy of useful work

Built To Last

From the very beginning, when I first got my first computer—around the age of 11 or 12—I felt inclined toward building things that were helpful and useful to others. Like many of my friends who eventually went into the computer industry and became software engineers, it all started with games. The thrill of writing your own game—something other people could use and that you could show off to your friends—was incredibly exciting to me.

The Day I Didn't Quit

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Day I Didn’t Quit

On Ego, Alignment, and the Power of Pausing Before You Leap

The Day I Didn’t Quit

After working for 2.5 years as a consultant at a governmental agency in New York as a software engineer, I took advantage of the fact that my position was eliminated after a silly argument with my then-manager and started looking for something new. My wife and I were expecting our second daughter, and the thought of continuing with the same schedule and routine I’d had for the last 2.5 years felt unbearable—something I simply wasn’t willing to do anymore.

Not a Pitch

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Not a Pitch

The Best Teams Form Around Truth, Not Persuasion

Not a Pitch

It was February 2019 when I was offered the opportunity to become Director of Quality Engineering for the organization where I worked—a role I had spent nearly eight years working toward. It should have felt triumphant. Instead, it felt complicated.

At the time, Quality Engineering was a pillar of its own, separate from Software Engineering, which had its own pillars, directors, senior directors, and vice presidents. The Quality Engineering organization stood alone, and I was one of four or five directors. Above us was a Senior Director—soon to become a Vice President—overseeing a team of roughly 1,300–1,400 software quality engineers.

Questions for a Happier 2026

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Questions for a Happier 2026

Not resolutions, but reflections on what actually mattered

Questions for a Happier 2026

This is my final post of 2025.

I want to start by saying thank you. Truly.Life in Rough Draft exists because you read, reply, reflect, and occasionally tell me that something here landed at the right moment. That quiet exchange—writer to reader—is what keeps this space alive.

If these essays have resonated with you this year, the simplest way to support this work is also the easiest: share a post with a friend, tap the ❤️, or restack it with a few words of your own. Those small gestures help these pieces find the people who might need them—and they let me know what’s connecting.

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What the World Needs, and What We Miss

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What the World Needs, and What We Miss

An Ikigai reflection on people, systems, and wasted potential

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: Where I Feel Needed

I’ve been circling four Ikigai questions lately: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. The framework has four overlapping parts, and I’m writing through them one at a time, in the order they’re actually showing up for me.

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What I'm Good At

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What I’m Good At

Lessons from feedback, fire drills, and the quiet work of helping people find clarity

What I’m Good At

I’m officially done with work for the year.

This past Friday wrapped things up cleanly—no loose ends, no unfinished tasks—and I now have two full weeks ahead of me. Some of that time comes from the usual year-end shutdown, some from time off I’d accumulated. All of it feels intentionally quiet.

The Gift You Don't Open Right Away

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Gift You Don’t Open Right Away

Finding the truth inside hard feedback

I’ve noticed a slight increase in the number of people reaching out to me for “one last call” before the end of the year. It wouldn’t quite qualify as a surge, but it’s definitely a shift—not just in volume, but in who is reaching out and why.

My calendar is usually full of the expected things: project meetings, team conversations, or discussions with people interested in using the work we’re building. That’s normal. But lately, more people have been asking to talk about something else entirely.

The Role I Wanted—and the One I Left

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Role I Wanted—and the One I Left

This is a cartoonized rendering of a real photograph. All names and identifying details on the shirts have been removed to respect the privacy of the individuals involved.

It was July 16th, 2019. In the photo above, I’m standing with the quality engineering managers who reported to me at the time. Together, we represented what I believed—earnestly—to be the future of quality engineering at the company.

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai

Photo by Acy Ian Malimban on Unsplash

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and this is the season when people managers get busy completing performance reviews for the engineers who report to them. Some organizations do this once a year; here, we do it every quarter. As I’ve been having these conversations—talking with my team about what excites them about the year ahead, what their goals might be, and what their aspirations look like—the word Ikigai has surfaced more than once.

A Reader's Take on The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A Reader’s Take on The Subtle Art Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

It’s been a while since I’ve written any kind of book review, and mostly it’s because I often feel that when I try, I don’t have the right framework to offer a solid commentary on what I liked, what I didn’t, and why I would—or wouldn’t—recommend a book. When I talk about books that mattered to me or touched me in some way, I usually end up describing them through how they made me feel. I don’t always know how to break things down in a more “literary” way—structure, motifs, themes, and all that—so I tend to refrain from reviewing books at all.

Sorting Through a Hard Week

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sorting Through a Hard Week

Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash

This Saturday, I’m accompanying my wife to a workshop she’s helping put together here in Hillsborough, North Carolina. The event is at the public library, and while she’ll be busy for a few hours, I decided to carve out some quiet time for myself—find a corner, gather my thoughts, and get some reading done. I’m nearly finished with one of the books I’ve been slowly working through over the last few days, but my mind has also been very preoccupied with work. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been reading my posts lately.

Finding My Feet Again

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Finding My Feet Again

Photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash

Dear reader and friends,

It’s been a chaotic last three days at work, the kind where I can barely find time to breathe or do anything personal beyond being with my family. Work has consumed every single minute, and I’ve faced challenges that pushed me to the brink more than once. I’d be lying if I said the easier route — throwing in the towel — didn’t cross my mind. The comfort of giving up can be surprisingly tempting. There were moments when I had to talk myself off the ledge, reminding myself not to stop caring, not to disconnect, not to shut down.

When the Armor Slips

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

When the Armor Slips

Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash

Yesterday, I wrote about how my day began with the very difficult task of letting someone go. Even though that meeting lasted only fifteen minutes, it took a lot out of me. Little did I know, that was just the beginning of what turned into a chaotic day filled with multitasking, back-to-back calls (both scheduled and ad hoc), and trying to balance competing priorities and distractions from morning to night.

The Quiet Side of Management

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Quiet Side of Management

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

April 22nd, 2016.

This was the first time in my career, as a manager of software engineers, that I had to let someone go. Not that I hadn’t dealt with performance issues before—there had been engineers and associates who struggled, and a few who ultimately decided to leave rather than continue on a performance improvement plan—but this was the first time I actually had to make the call to terminate someone’s employment.

My Origin Story: The Job That Broke Me

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My Origin Story: The Job That Broke Me

Photo by Rudi Endresen on Unsplash

You can now read My Origin Story in order — from the very beginning — on its dedicated page:

👉 Read the full series here

There are moments in life when you don’t notice the ground shifting beneath you until it finally cracks. Leaving Synaptic wasn’t a dramatic exit. Nobody threw a chair. There were no fireworks, no screaming matches, no dramatic firings. It was quieter than that. Heavier than that. It was a slow unraveling.

The Student in Me Never Left

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Library in the morning hours

This morning I started work late because I had to run a couple of errands. First, I was supposed to pick up my dad and take him to the mechanic so he could get his car, but it turns out the place only opened later and I couldn’t wait for it. So it was on to the second task of the day: taking my 18-year-old daughter to her school for an in-person exam.

Planning My Escape (Sort of)

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by 🇻🇪 Jose G. Ortega Castro 🇲🇽 on Unsplash

Today I stumbled across an article claiming that the magic number you need to save for a “comfortable” retirement is $1.5 million. I only skimmed the article, but I’m pretty sure it was written for people living in the U.S. who plan to retire around 67. And by “comfortable,” I’m guessing they mean having a roof that doesn’t leak, food that isn’t ramen, and health insurance that doesn’t send you straight into bankruptcy.

The Great Couch Debate (and Why My Office Survived)

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Grovemade on Unsplash

Over the weekend, my wife and I were talking about how good it would be to finally replace our old, beat-up couch in the living room. I don’t even remember where we originally got it—I just know we hated it from the very first day we assembled it. It’s too small, the back cushions are too soft, and if you lean back for more than twenty minutes, you end up pressed against the hard frame and needing a chiropractor. Most of the time we double up the cushions to make it usable, which also means there’s now a silent competition in our house: whoever grabs the extra cushion gets an additional twenty minutes of comfort.

Week in Review - Week 42 of 2025

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Some weeks test your patience. Others your stamina. This week? It tested my calendar, my caffeine intake, my emotional bandwidth—and somehow still managed to remind me why I do what I do. Between last-minute presentations, sprint planning chaos, infrastructure headaches, and keeping my team sane, I also got to celebrate something far more meaningful: 25 years of marriage to the quiet girl who changed my life. Here’s how Week 42 unfolded.

The Quiet Girl Who Changed My Life

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My wife and I couldn’t be more different from each other. She’s sweet, and I’m savory. She’s calm and easygoing, while I’m hyped up and intense. I talk a thousand miles an hour but am very much an introvert, whereas she chooses her words carefully and is a social butterfly.

I remember when I first met her. It was April 1999, and I had just agreed to go on a blind date with my friend’s sister’s best friend. I was going through a rough phase in my life—one where I’d pretty much given up on romance and decided to focus entirely on work. One of my sisters kept insisting that I should start dating again. She even set me up with someone she swore would be a good match, telling me we were both Geminis and that I’d just been “looking for the right person in the wrong places.” I wasn’t sure what to think of that at the time, but I went along with it. The date was pleasant enough—she was kind, we had a good time—but there were no sparks.

Why I’m Trading SMART Goals for HEART Goals

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was having coffee in my kitchen and browsing Substack when I came across a note from Courtney Cunningham, where she declared that she was done with the so-called SMART goals.

SMART, as you probably know, is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-bound — a framework for structuring professional and personal goals. If you’re in a leadership position and responsible for helping others achieve their aspirations or close knowledge or behavioral gaps, chances are you’ve heard of SMART goals.

All Things Open, Except My Calendar

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Today marks the first day of All Things Open 2025, a technology conference that takes place every year right here in my backyard. I remember attending the first few editions and loving the chance to meet people and friends — some I only knew from online interactions — while listening to great speakers and getting my mind blown by their enthusiasm for their craft.

After unsuccessfully submitting talk proposals for several years, I eventually decided to skip the event altogether. But this year, I decided to give it another shot — to see if it could win back my patronage. I even bought my tickets months in advance and made plans to meet some teammates and hang out outside of work.