Writing, apps, consulting, and photography from Phil Johnston II.https://philjohnstonii.comhttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/an-audience-of-two-what-a-weekend-app-taught-me-about-software-economicshttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/an-audience-of-two-what-a-weekend-app-taught-me-about-software-economicsThis weekend I'm taking my son to G-Fest , a kaiju convention (giant monsters, Godzilla, that whole world) held outside Chicago. Three days, dozens of panels, and a schedule handed to you as a PDF.Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:47:17 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/the-best-software-i-use-has-one-userhttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/the-best-software-i-use-has-one-userOpen the weather app on my phone and a cloudy forecast looks like a warning. Gray icon, maybe a raindrop, the quiet suggestion that I should stay home.Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:11:00 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/i-built-a-throwaway-tool-to-cram-python-in-two-days-the-lesson-wasnt-about-pythonhttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/i-built-a-throwaway-tool-to-cram-python-in-two-days-the-lesson-wasnt-about-pythonI've programmed in Python before. I've also programmed in plenty of other languages since, and the syntax had drifted. The logic was still there. The idiomatic shortcuts that make Python feel like Python were not. I needed to close that gap fast, and I have memory challenges that make traditional cram sessions a slog. Generic Python courses were the wrong shape. They assumed I was new. They wanted weeks. I had 48 hours.Fri, 01 May 2026 16:16:40 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/insights-reporthttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/insights-reportI asked Claude Code to run a usage report on my Claude Code sessions from the last two weeks. Around 200 sessions, 235 hours , across game dev, mobile apps, multi-agent tooling, and infrastructure. I'm publishing the redacted version because it's a useful snapshot of how one person is actually working with AI coding agents in 2026, and because if you sell dev tools, your buyer might look more like this than you think.Thu, 16 Apr 2026 19:48:25 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/stop-letting-your-ai-agents-be-generalistshttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/stop-letting-your-ai-agents-be-generalistsI've been building two apps with AI agents doing most of the heavy lifting. One is a ham radio propagation tool for iOS. The other is a game for my daughter. Both started the same way: I gave the agent a prompt, it built something, and the result was fine. Just fine. Functional, forgettable, and looking like every other AI-generated app out there. Then I changed one thing, and the entire quality of the output shifted…Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:40:44 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/fresh-eyes-how-i-got-past-my-agents-quality-ceilinghttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/fresh-eyes-how-i-got-past-my-agents-quality-ceilingMost people iterating with AI agents hit the same wall eventually. The output quality plateaus. You tweak prompts, refine skills, adjust context. The results are fine. But they stop getting better. I hit that wall recently, and I think I found a technique worth sharing.Sun, 12 Apr 2026 20:06:35 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/my-agentic-coding-stack-how-i-ship-software-with-ai-agentshttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/my-agentic-coding-stack-how-i-ship-software-with-ai-agentsMost developers using AI for coding dump everything into one chat window and hope for the best. I think I may have found a better way. A workflow that treats different AI tools…Wed, 08 Apr 2026 17:27:05 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/code-is-commodity-art-direction-is-the-moathttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/code-is-commodity-art-direction-is-the-moatAI can generate code, but it can’t replace the human eye for design. Game artists, trained in composition, color theory, and spatial storytelling, are uniquely positioned to shape the next generation of software interfaces.Sun, 29 Mar 2026 16:00:36 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/the-80-20-rule-for-ai-code-reviewhttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/the-80-20-rule-for-ai-code-reviewLLM-powered agents can simulate QA, security, and architecture expertise well enough to catch 80% of the issues a human reviewer would. The question is whether that last 20% still justifies the cost of a dedicated specialist.Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:00:40 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/vibe-coding-got-you-the-prototype-now-whathttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/vibe-coding-got-you-the-prototype-now-whatVibe coding is great for prototypes, but production software still needs guardrails. Here’s why AI-generated code demands the same SDLC discipline we’ve always applied, and how an 8-stage agent pipeline keeps things from falling apart.Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:00:03 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/building-gopros-developer-program-from-zero-to-330-partnershttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/building-gopros-developer-program-from-zero-to-330-partnersHow Phil Johnston built GoPro's developer program from zero to 330+ partners including NASA, Google, and BMW. Lessons on building developer ecosystems at hardware companies.Tue, 24 Mar 2026 21:51:33 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/standards-are-the-new-moatshttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/standards-are-the-new-moatsIf on-demand software is the future, interoperability is its foundation. JSON Schema, OpenAPI, MCP, and llms.txt are becoming the standards that determine whether AI-generated tools can actually talk to each other.Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:00:22 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/the-last-saas-youll-ever-subscribe-tohttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/the-last-saas-youll-ever-subscribe-toMost business software is a UI layer on top of well-documented rules. As LLMs get better at generating those interfaces on demand, the subscription model starts to look like a relic. This is what comes next.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 16:00:56 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/what-running-devrel-at-1password-taught-me-about-open-source-and-developer-trusthttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/what-running-devrel-at-1password-taught-me-about-open-source-and-developer-trustLessons from building DevRel at 1Password: managing 900+ open source projects, scaling technical content, and why trust is the product for security-focused developer tools.Fri, 20 Mar 2026 21:28:36 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/your-developer-tool-is-invisible-to-ai-thats-a-problemhttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/your-developer-tool-is-invisible-to-ai-thats-a-problemAI tools are reshaping how developers discover and evaluate APIs and SDKs. Learn what makes a developer tool visible to LLMs, why most companies are behind, and tactical steps to fix it including llms.txt, JSON-LD, MCP servers, and content strategy.Thu, 19 Mar 2026 22:31:57 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/15-000-developers-during-a-pandemic-what-i-learned-at-here-technologieshttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/15-000-developers-during-a-pandemic-what-i-learned-at-here-technologiesHow Phil Johnston onboarded 15,000 developers at HERE Technologies during the pandemic using digital-first DevRel, then expanded the cloud marketplace by 2,250x as product manager.Thu, 19 Mar 2026 21:46:17 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/how-i-help-api-first-companies-build-developer-programs-that-actually-workhttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/how-i-help-api-first-companies-build-developer-programs-that-actually-workPhil Johnston is a fractional Head of Developer Relations helping API-first companies build developer programs, partnerships, and AI discoverability. 15 years of experience at GoPro, BMW, HERE Technologies, and 1Password.Thu, 19 Mar 2026 20:10:57 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/phil-johnston-linkedin-leaving-linkedin-and-choosing-independencehttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/phil-johnston-linkedin-leaving-linkedin-and-choosing-independenceAfter my LinkedIn account was compromised and permanently removed, I lost nearly two decades of professional connections. This is about what happens when a single platform becomes too central to your professional identity.Thu, 05 Feb 2026 19:58:36 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/future-of-micro-niche-ai-toolshttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/future-of-micro-niche-ai-toolsAs someone who’s soon to be less relevant when it comes to technology, I am personally augmenting my workflows to include self-developed tools to help me get my work done. One recent example is a quick script that will test serverSat, 06 Sep 2025 16:39:06 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/encouraging-developers-to-share-their-storieshttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/encouraging-developers-to-share-their-storiesOne of the most effective DevRel tactics is personally inviting developers to write about their projects in their own words. Here are the strategies and lessons learned from building a developer storytelling program.Wed, 03 Sep 2025 17:56:09 GMThttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/micro-niche-vibe-codinghttps://philjohnstonii.com/blog/micro-niche-vibe-codingI've been building small terminal UI apps tuned to very specific personal workflows. It's vibe coding at its most practical: making the tools to be more productive, one micro-niche problem at a time.Fri, 29 Aug 2025 03:15:43 GMTtinkeringtuiaivibe