Field notes on repace.ai

The importance of writing your own specs

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In my first career, civil engineering, we were trying to build quite a funky split-dome shape - a bit like a chocolate orange - with arched reinforced concrete beams supporting timber beneath a zinc roof.

Musk: the film nobody got to see

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Alex Gibney’s documentary about Elon Musk got great reviews at Venice in September. Two weeks after it opened in the US it was out of cinemas, with $571,902 at the box office, and everyone called it a flop. I’m not convinced. Before it opened, Musk spent days insulting Gibney on X and his lawyer threatened to sue. YouTube, TikTok and Meta wouldn’t run ads for the trailer because they said it was political. X just said no. Then, the day before it went out to 472 cinemas, TikTok shut down the film’s account. It came back later and TikTok said it had been a mistake, but by then the big weekend was over. To be fair, the film is nearly four hours long, which doesn’t help. But it never got a proper go.

Hedgehogs, Foxes and Founders

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing”
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There’s a line from the Greek poet Archilochus that Isaiah Berlin turned into one of the most-borrowed ideas in modern thinking: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

Building an MVP: A Worked Example

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is Part 3 of a three-part series on building an MVP in the UK. Part 1 covers what an MVP costs and how long it takes, and Part 2 covers what actually belongs in one. Here we put both into practice on a real project.

What Is an MVP, Really? And What Actually Drives Its Cost

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is Part 2 of a three-part series on building an MVP in the UK. Part 1 covers what an MVP costs and how long it takes. Part 3 walks through a real MVP from first conversation to build.

How Much Does It Cost to Build an MVP in the UK? (2026)

Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is Part 1 of a three-part series on building an MVP in the UK. Part 2 looks at what actually belongs in an MVP, and Part 3 walks through a real MVP from first conversation to build.

Balancing AI Tooling Costs - The Future

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

AI developer tools are heavily subsidised , with labs and platforms often providing power users 15 to 30 times more value in underlying compute and token costs than they charge in flat monthly subscriptions. For heavy users running intensive agentic workflows, a standard $200/month subscription can easily rack up $3,000 to $5,500+ in API-equivalent compute costs

Specifying is hard — and most of us have forgotten how to do it

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The lost art of specification
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Before the industrial revolution, if you wanted a suit, dress or furniture you thought about what you wanted, articulated that thought to a craftsperson and they made it for you. If the person making it was any good then they knew what questions to ask if there were any gaps. Getting that conversation right mattered because if the end result wasn’t what you wanted you’d lose money and a lot of time.

It's Not a Game

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Live magic and AI - an uncomfortable mix with a surprise end
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I took my kids to see two illusionists, Jay and Joss, at the Theatre Royal Winchester this evening. Spoiler alert - at the time of writing the home page for the theatre is for an upcoming performance for kids ‘The Dinosaur Who Pooped’ so apologies to those who may have clicked that link before reading this.