"business" entries | Aaron Saray

Re-inventing the Wheel Is How You Learn

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Sometimes I look back at my older open source work, or talks, and feel a little bit ashamed.

“That’s not right.” “That’s not how you’d do it” (or not how I’d do it now).

And the times I re-invented the wheel when packages were already there…

As embarrassing as that seems now, there was a good reason for that.

Doing things that others have done, but in our own way, is a synthesis that helps us learn.

Let’s not forget about that.

The CTO Is a Communicator First

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

When you think of a CTO, what do you see?

Someone gray-haired, steering the ship like the last 20 years? A young, hot-shot that solves every single technical problem and then plays video games to relax?

It really doesn’t matter. I don’t actually picture or “see” anyone.

I can tell if a real CTO is in the room by just opening up my ears.

What Type of Contractor are You Hiring?

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

What type of contractor are you hiring? That’s a question you should be asking yourself - and them - before you pull the trigger. Let me expand on the reason for this…

Self Reflection as a Manager

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Sometimes when I get called in to help a dev manager straighten up their team, I face a lot of resistance. But there’s hope. I have a solution!

How Do I Find a Programmer?

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

So you have a great idea. You have some budget. It’s now time to make your vision into a reality. The problem is - you don’t know any programmers. You don’t even know where you’d find one. What can you do?

The answer is so simple… you’re going to kick yourself. Let me explain:

How to Fix Chronically Out of Date Documentation

Sat, 24 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

It seems that every project we run into has missing or out of date documentation. Wikis become stale. Don’t even start me on that out of date README.md file.

It’s almost not worth writing documentation because it gets out of date so fast.

Right?

Hourly Billing Gives You the Worst Results

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I don’t do hourly billing (if I can help it) - but most businesses and partners still ask about my hourly rate. Hourly billing is bad. There are so many reasons. But in this article I will just focus on one: you get the worst results with hourly billing. Let’s find out why.

An Argument for Keeping Your Project Simple

Mon, 22 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Awesome. You used interfaces so you can abstract out the dependencies and swap services. Your database queries are all built with an ORM that is database agnostic. You don’t rely on anything special with your servers/cloud. You did it! You now have a project that retains the business logic while allowing all the technical aspects to be loosely coupled! But should you have done it?!

Statement of Work Example

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Whether you’re on the side that just landed the big deal - or you’re the business eager to get your project launched - you need to know what a statement of work is. Let’s talk about contracts and statements of work for developers.

Requirements Gathering Questions to Ask

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Gathering requirements for a new project can get unwieldy and unorganized pretty easily. It’s easy to get lost or go down a deep rabbit hole. You may be getting excited about the new project’s technical challenges or be blindly following the client’s explanation and description. How do you know you’ve covered everything, though? What if you’re missing vital points?