Welcome to The Steady Beat, a weekly-ish round-up of hand-picked articles and resources for people who make software products: designers, engineers, product managers, and organizational leaders.
By the Numbers: Comet Asteroid Wipeout
- 66 million — The number of years ago an asteroid wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species, including the dinosaurs.
- 1 billion — The estimated energy release, over a billion times higher than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when the asteroid struck Earth.
- 81 kilometers — The maximum estimated size of the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater, which spans up to 50 miles in diameter.
- 541 million — The timespan, in years, over which researchers analyzed asteroid impact samples, confirming the Chicxulub impactor was a C-type asteroid.
- 2021 — The year Harvard astronomers proposed the comet hypothesis, later debunked by ruthenium isotope analysis in 2024.
Ars Technica, 5m
Rushing AI: The Fast Track to Customer Frustration
In the rush to bolt AI onto everything, companies that make enterprise software are losing sight of what really matters: user experience. By slapping AI logos on products without thoughtful integration, they risk alienating customers and trampling on foundational design principles. This frenzied adoption of AI isn’t solving real user problems—it’s a knee-jerk reaction to market hype. The result? A tech landscape littered with half-baked features that could damage the long-term credibility of AI and the brands that push it.
UX Collective, 5m, #design #ai
Stakeholders on the Product Team?
Roman Pichler explores the idea of expanding product teams beyond the usual suspects—product managers, designers, and developers—to include key stakeholders like marketing, sales, and legal. While this extended team can boost collaboration, alignment, and decision-making, it also brings challenges like the risk of design-by-committee and the dreaded HIPPO effect. Pichler offers practical tips to make it work, from involving the right people to securing long-term commitment, with a coach to help navigate the rough patches.
Roman Pichler, 7m, #productmanagement
Python Hits Record High Popularity
Python just hit a new milestone, capturing an 18.04% share on the TIOBE Programming Community Index, marking one of the highest popularity ratings ever. It hasn’t been since Java’s peak in 2016 that a language has reached such heights. Meanwhile, SQL made a surprising leap from 10th to 7th place, while Go slipped to 10th. The top 10 list reflects the dynamic shifts in developer preferences and the rise of AI, with Kotlin and Rust inching closer to a future spot among the elite.
TIOBE, 2m, #development
Keep Your Sanity: The Case for Staying an IC
Management isn’t the only path to success, and for many, it’s not the right one. Elena Verna reflects on her own painful journey through management and advocates for the Principal or Staff IC (Individual Contributor) roles as a lucrative, fulfilling alternative. With salaries rivaling those of directors, these roles offer autonomy and allow you to keep doing what you love without the headaches of managing people. As companies wise up to the value of strong ICs and the pitfalls of pushing everyone into management, it’s time to reconsider the traditional career ladder.
Elena Verna, 7m, #management #engineering #development
BTS @ Steady
This week, we challenged ourselves to create some brief and not-boring introductory videos about the Steady product for a couple of the the personas that use Steady every day: tech managers and contributors. Here are the results, feedback welcome!
Have you tried Steady? It’s an AI-powered coordination layer that eliminates 83% of meetings for software teams.
Steady runs in the background, distilling plans and progress from tools, teams, & people into tailored summaries, giving everyone the clarity they need to build outstanding products together. With Steady, everyone has continuous context at their fingertips, eliminating the need for burdensome shoulder taps, interruptions, and endless meetings.
Learn more at steady.space.
