Essays and notes on engineering leadership, AI, platform work, and building software.https://brentmaxwell.com/en-auhttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/the-fan-was-the-siem/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/the-fan-was-the-siem/I vibecoded an app with security issues. My Hermes Agent helped me diagnose and fix it within 1 minute.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTaisecurityhttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/how-to-mature-an-engineering-function-through-the-ai-maturity-curve/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/how-to-mature-an-engineering-function-through-the-ai-maturity-curve/If the AI maturity model describes the stages of capability, the next question is more practical: how should an engineering organisation actually move through them?Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTaiengineeringhttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/how-to-transform-a-7-year-old-company-in-9-months/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/how-to-transform-a-7-year-old-company-in-9-months/Notes from the CTO: A Short History of Re-Building Synthetix PerpsFri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTcompany-buildinghttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/the-ai-maturity-model/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/the-ai-maturity-model/A five-stage AI maturity model for software engineering, from chatbots to autonomous product development systems.Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTaiengineeringhttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/workplace-culture-dominance-excitement/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/workplace-culture-dominance-excitement/I’ve seen bad behaviour at big and small businesses I’ve worked in. It often stems from the small ways that people are allowed to get away with stuff.Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMTculturehttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/modern-ai-stacks-value-capture/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/modern-ai-stacks-value-capture/There is a growing set of concerns about how to invest in AI startups. I believe there is plenty of pie to go around, and that the first mover advantage isn’t necessarily as great as it may at first seem.Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMTaihttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/announcing-my-role-as-ceo-of-defy-labs/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/announcing-my-role-as-ceo-of-defy-labs/I’m excited to announce that I’ve been offered, and accepted, the role of CEO of [DEFY Labs](https://defydisrupt.io). DEFY Labs is the company behind the mobile game, DEFY, which is a web3 location-based AR game that draws players into the world of the DEFY revolution, fighting back against the nefarious [Future Systems](https://www.wearefuture.systems/) corporation.Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTbusinesshttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/how-to-use-your-privilege-to-better-the-world/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/how-to-use-your-privilege-to-better-the-world/In this post I want to explore social inequality and what people in positions of social privilege can do to improve the situation by using their privilege to make things a tiny bit more equal.Fri, 08 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMTcultureleadershiphttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/how-to-be-more-effective-locus-of-control/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/how-to-be-more-effective-locus-of-control/In this post I described the way in which I think the Stoics fall short in focusing on what we can control, without guidance on evaluating HOW to ascertain what is and is not in our control.Sun, 17 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMTphilosophyhttps://brentmaxwell.com/blog/agile-data-warehousing-its-time/https://brentmaxwell.com/blog/agile-data-warehousing-its-time/The goal of this article is to provide a case for the adoption of agile software methodologies in data warehouse software development and demonstrate how it is possible.Thu, 24 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMTdataengineering