https://gmfoster.com Essays and reflections on code, startups, and learning. en-us Sun, 25 Oct 2026 15:55:41 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/ode-to-engineering https://gmfoster.com/writing/ode-to-engineering An engineer is a great identity to assume. It’s the identity of a builder and a fixer. Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/how-to-be-an-amazing-em https://gmfoster.com/writing/how-to-be-an-amazing-em Ten lessons on engineering management - from making the company successful to hiring well, living in dissonance, and knowing when not to act. Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/intensity-at-work https://gmfoster.com/writing/intensity-at-work Reflections on demanding greatness from yourself and others - and why it's not as toxic as it sounds. Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/ai-provenance https://gmfoster.com/writing/ai-provenance Storing the history behind AI-generated code in a simple sidecar folder. Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/founder-dissonances https://gmfoster.com/writing/founder-dissonances Founders say one thing and do another. The common dissonances between what founders say and what they actually do, and why copying the words instead of the actions is dangerous. Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/starting-graphite https://gmfoster.com/writing/starting-graphite The story of how I met my cofounders at Harvard, learned infrastructure engineering at Airbnb, and eventually started Graphite in early 2020. Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/how-i-learned-to-code https://gmfoster.com/writing/how-i-learned-to-code The story of how I taught myself iOS development at 15, built my first apps, and discovered a lifelong passion for programming. Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/are-you-having-any-fun https://gmfoster.com/writing/are-you-having-any-fun The journey is the whole thing. Great things do take a long time, but fun is what keeps you motivated for the long haul. Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/three-rules-for-naming-projects https://gmfoster.com/writing/three-rules-for-naming-projects My firm rules for what makes a good project or company name - two hard syllables, easy to say in a loud room, and no spelling clarification needed. Tue, 03 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/invention-of-modern-ci https://gmfoster.com/writing/invention-of-modern-ci The history of continuous integration testing, from manual code inspections in the 1980s to modern parallelized cloud CI systems and the future of AI-powered code review. Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/github-monopoly-on-code-hosting https://gmfoster.com/writing/github-monopoly-on-code-hosting How did GitHub enter the market? What existed before, and what gap did they fill? A history of code hosting from SourceForge to GitHub's dominance. Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/onboarding-roulette https://gmfoster.com/writing/onboarding-roulette How we test our hardest-to-test feature by randomly deleting one engineer's Graphite account every day at 9am. Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster) https://gmfoster.com/writing/why-facebook-doesnt-use-git https://gmfoster.com/writing/why-facebook-doesnt-use-git Why do Facebookers not use Git? Why adopt Mercurial instead and build custom workflows on top of it? The answer involves community, collaboration, and a masterclass in internal migrations. Wed, 06 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT greg@gmfoster.com (Greg Foster)