Blog Series
Building in the Fog
Or: What Happens When You Try to Digitize a Veteran's Spreadsheet
The Spreadsheet
How a cocktail party conversation with Outward Bound Hong Kong's executive director turned into a provisioning decision engine — and why the real problem isn't the spreadsheet.
The Scaling Problem
Changing group size from 14 to 20 changed almost nothing in the output. 46 of 63 items were tagged 'per_group' because the spreadsheet was designed for exactly 14 people.
The $3,323 Chicken Sausage
A unit conversion bug that produced 167 packs of chicken sausage at $3,323. The same bug existed independently in three code paths.
1,200 Calories a Day
Adding nutrition analysis revealed the original menu provides half the calories teenagers need on an expedition. The number wasn't wrong — but the way we averaged it was.
Ahmad Is Both
'2 halal, 1 vegetarian' breaks when one person has both restrictions. The fix wasn't a better counter — it was a structural redesign.
Field Ready
Making provisioning software usable by supply officers on phones in a warehouse. 320px minimum, 20px text, light/dark themes, bilingual.