"You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, 'How did he do it? He must be a genius!'"
Applying AI-assisted development to codebases with decades of history, complex dependencies, and institutional knowledge.
Enabling integration and interoperability in systems that were built as monoliths.
Balancing accessibility for newcomers with the depth and flexibility that expert users need.
Avoiding the trap of endless tooling churn while still making progress on what matters.
Ensuring long-term sustainability for open source scientific infrastructure that thousands of researchers depend on.
Creating sustainable, welcoming communities around open source projects that grow beyond their founders.
Exploring the craft of cocktails - classics, variations, and the principles behind great drinks.
Using standards strategically - not as ends in themselves but as tools for interoperability and collaboration.
Discovering the best of Pittsburgh - food, drinks, entertainment, and hidden gems.
Tests that not only ensure correctness but tell stories, build documentation, and encourage other contributors to write more tests.
Making computational research accessible through web interfaces that scale to real-world demands without sacrificing usability.