Owen MacAllister is a staff engineer and technical writer with fifteen years of experience in software architecture and large-scale codebase management. He has led multiple refactoring programmes and one complete system rewrite, and writes about the engineering and organisational realities of working with legacy codebases, technical debt, and the genuine trade-offs between incremental improvement and starting over.
Software Architecture
Software Development
Two Agents in One Repo: The Merge Conflict Neither of Them Can See
Owen MacAllister
September 30, 2026
Artificial Intelligence
Software Development
When to Stop a Coding Agent and Take the Keyboard Back
Owen MacAllister
September 30, 2026
Careers
Software Development
20 years of being a programmer: what the job was, what it became, and what I'd train for now
Owen MacAllister
September 23, 2026
Engineering Management
Software Development
The art of technical debate: how I’d argue about code without wrecking the team
Owen MacAllister
September 21, 2026
Software Architecture
Software Development
How I’d keep a million-line frontend from rotting — modules, ownership, and the refactors I skip
Owen MacAllister
September 18, 2026
Software Architecture
Software Development
Mental programming: I write less when I can hold the system in my head
Owen MacAllister
September 18, 2026
Software Architecture
Software Development
DDD without the textbook: how I’d actually get business language into the code
Owen MacAllister
September 18, 2026
Software Architecture
Software Development
Why Software Rewrites Usually Fail—And the Cases Where They Work
Owen MacAllister
July 7, 2026