end-game musings_

Before the chaos-neutral era of Civet Labs, there was EndGame — where I was CTO, and where a lot of this site’s spirit (Waza, “build sturdy things,” and the general belief that a bit of chaos is good for a team) actually comes from.

These are old posts from the EndGame Medium blog, reconstituted here so they don’t disappear when a platform inevitably does. Technical manifestos, Waza wrap-ups, incident retrospectives, the occasional rally-team metaphor — pulled over roughly as they were, warts and all.

Do you think it will last that long?

Do you think it will last that long?

This week we’re talking about the second section of the EndGame technical manifesto:


Temple II on the main plaza, Tikal

This week we’re talking about the second section of the EndGame technical manifesto:

“Build client driven,long-lived solutions , that are both sturdy and maintainable.”

When I stood at the foot of this ziggurat (shown above) I was amazed at the craftsmanship of an ancient people. And given that it was after the end of the Mayan calendar, I had another thought:

Imagine we’re a rally team

Imagine we’re a rally team

Unpacking ‘Client Driven’


Unpacking ‘Client Driven’

In a previous post I introduced the EndGame technical manifesto:

“Build** Client Driven** long-lived solutions that are both sturdy and maintainable.”

‘Client Driven’ is an expression of how our technical team should work with our clients to achieve a solution.

When I explain this, I like to use the analogy of a rally car team: imagining EndGame as the driver and our client as the co-driver. Both are required for success. The driver executes on the foresight and planning of the co-driver.

Using ArthurMP to display the release counts from Octopus Deploy

Using ArthurMP to display the release counts from Octopus Deploy

One of the awesome products we’ve built at EndGame is ArthurMP — a platform for controlling digital signage.


One of the awesome products we’ve built at EndGame is ArthurMP — a platform for controlling digital signage.

Its goal is to make managing signage assets as easy as possible. Along with expanding the range of available asset types — from the static videos and pictures we see today to more dynamic assets which are fed from data sources.

Introducing the EndGame Technical Manifesto

Introducing the EndGame Technical Manifesto

Why do we do it?


This was ultimately the question that focused my mind when asked to write the manifesto. I wanted a top down view of the our development practices and direction, something that could be bundled up and documented.

After many draft attempts (screwed up and thrown at the rubbish bin), ‘ Why do we do it?’ kept coming back at the center of mind maps and other attempts to crystallize my thinking.