http://simonwillison.net/2026-04-23T13:35:37+00:00Simon Willison2026-04-23T13:35:37+00:002026-04-23T13:35:37+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/23/maggie-appleton/#atom-tag

<blockquote cite="https://maggieappleton.com/gathering-structures"><p>[...] if you ever needed another reason to <a href="https://www.swyx.io/learn-in-public">learn in public</a> by <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history">digital gardening</a> or podcasting or streaming or whathaveyou, add on that people will assume you’re more competent than you are. This will get you invites to very cool exclusive events filled with high-achieving, interesting people, even though you have no right to be there. A+ side benefit.</p></blockquote> <p class="cite">&mdash; <a href="https://maggieappleton.com/gathering-structures">Maggie Appleton</a>, Gathering Structures (<a href="https://notes.andymatuschak.org/Work_with_the_garage_door_up">via</a>)</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/blogging">blogging</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/maggie-appleton">maggie-appleton</a></p>

2024-07-06T18:30:10+00:002024-07-06T18:30:10+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2024/Jul/6/home-cooked-software/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://maggieappleton.com/home-cooked-software">Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers</a></strong></p> I really enjoyed this talk by Maggie Appleton from this year's Local-first Conference in Berlin.</p> <blockquote> <p>For the last ~year I've been keeping a close eye on how language models capabilities meaningfully change the speed, ease, and accessibility of software development. The slightly bold theory I put forward in this talk is that we're on a verge of a golden age of local, home-cooked software and a new kind of developer – what I've called the barefoot developer.</p> </blockquote> <p>It's a great talk, and the design of the slides is outstanding.</p> <p>It reminded me of Robin Sloan's <a href="https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/home-cooked-app/">An app can be a home-cooked meal</a>, which Maggie references in the talk. Also relevant: this delightful recent Hacker News thread, <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40878765"> Ask HN: Is there any software you only made for your own use but nobody else?</a></p> <p>My favourite version of our weird new LLM future is one where the pool of people who can use computers to automate things in their life is massively expanded.</p> <p>The <a href="https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4isNRKAwz2O9FxP97_EbOivIWWwSWt5j">other videos from the conference</a> are worth checking out too. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai-assisted-programming">ai-assisted-programming</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/local-first">local-first</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/maggie-appleton">maggie-appleton</a></p>