Hey!

Chris here. Welcome to Blueprint—the newsletter to help you build a winning engineering team.

I spend more time inside AI systems than almost anyone I know, and I keep coming back to the same thought: the anxiety everyone feels about AI has nothing to do with the technology at all.

It stems from what happens when the thing that told you who you were in the world—your work, your expertise, and your place in the system—suddenly becomes negotiable.

We're early in an entirely new historical epoch, so it's understandable to be a little anxious.

But as we step into 2026, I think most people are asking the wrong questions about what comes next.

Here's where my mind is at on this New Year's Eve. 👇️ 

📒 DEEP DIVE

The Quiet Risk of Standing Still

Why relevance in 2026 will be defined by motion, not certainty.

2025 Revealed the Limits of Our Old Mental Models

For most of human history, what you did with your time every day drove how you felt about your place in the world.

Work was more than just how you paid bills. It was how you located yourself in society, how you measured progress, and how you knew you mattered.

That's why someone asks, "Will AI take my job?" What they're really asking is, "Will I still have a reason to get up in the morning?"

That's a fundamentally different question, and it deserves a better answer than the standard "some jobs will change, new jobs will emerge" platitudes.

What History Tells Us About What Comes Next

I'm not a historian, but I've read enough to know this: Every time humans reduced the baseline requirements for survival, creativity expanded.

When we no longer had to hunt and gather every waking hour or work the fields from dawn till dusk, the opportunity for specialized professions emerged.

Reduced necessity has always unlocked human potential, not eliminated it.

Now, will everyone lean into creativity and building in this new era? Of course not. Some people will choose leisure, and that's fine. Not everyone needs to invent the next great thing.

But many people will continue to find meaning in welding, painting, or fixing things with their hands.

And if we figure out the economics of doing that without the back-breaking pressure of survival, that would be remarkable.

The Quiet Risk of Standing Still

Here's what actually concerns me more than the doomsday scenarios: standing still.

The compounding effect of these tools is real. I'm legitimately twice as fast at building software as I was 2 weeks ago, and probably 50x faster than I was last year.

That's what’s genuinely possible today when you systematically remove friction from your workflow, 1 small automation at a time.

If you feel static or even just slightly improved in what you're doing today compared to a year ago, you're behind the curve. This is true because the trajectory for exponential improvement exists whether you engage with it or not.

I don’t say this to place pressure on anyone. I don't want to live in a world where everyone feels chased by technology.

But I do think companies and individuals who aren't actively exploring where they can be more effective are making a choice—and that choice has consequences.

Right now, while the technology is still emerging, there's an enormous opportunity. And that opportunity window won't stay open forever.

The Only Reasonable Goal for 2026

I can't tell you what 2026 will bring. Nobody can.

But I know that the companies that thrive during technological transitions are those that embrace uncertainty, learn the new tools effectively, and stay focused on solving real problems for their customers.

You don't need to know where AI is heading or construct a 5-year roadmap to do that.

The history curve of technological advancement is in our favor. Yes, there will be displacement. Yes, some positions will disappear. But new opportunities will surely emerge that nobody could've imagined—it's remarkably arrogant to assume we've somehow reached the endpoint of human creativity and contribution.

So as we close out 2025 and step into whatever 2026 holds, I'm focused on orientation.

You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to make sure you're still in motion when the future arrives.

BEFORE YOU GO…

As this year comes to a close, I want to say thank you for spending time here.

I hope The Blueprint has helped you think a little more clearly in the midst of everything 2025 threw at us.

I don’t have predictions for 2026. Just a conviction that staying curious and continuing to build things that matter will keep paying dividends—no matter how the landscape shifts.

I appreciate you reading and reflecting on what I’ve written and look forward to continuing the conversation in 2026.

Happy New Year,

Chris.