Small Tools
January 2026
The best software I've used in the last few years was written by one person, or maybe two. Not because small teams are magically better, but because software built by small teams doesn't need to justify its existence to anyone.
A team of fifty engineers has to ship features to stay busy. A team of one ships a feature when the feature is needed, and otherwise leaves the software alone. The result is that after a year, the small tool is still good, and the big one has been slowly ruined.
If you want to make something people love, keep the team small enough that no one has to invent reasons to work.