hi. this is david. it's nice to meet you.

a good magician never lies.

He knows where people aren’t looking.

That’s usually where the useful things are. The small signal before the big problem. The assumption sitting quietly inside a beautiful report. The strange sentence in the meeting that nobody wrote down.

This is my home base.

I write about quality, testing, and the human decisions behind software delivery. Sometimes I also collect light on a small sensor. Other people call it photography. It all lives here.

If you work in IT, product, management, or testing, and you suspect the real problem is rarely the thing in the report, you’ll probably find something here.

Some useful. Some unfinished. Some probably wrong, tell me which.

Read the newsletter Professional version

You are probably here because something feels off.

A project can be green on slides and still be sick. A team can be busy and still be behind. A product can pass every test and still let down the people using it.

That gap is the mystical middle I keep poking at.

I started as a tester. Over time I got more and more interested in what people actually mean when they say words like quality, agility, done. Because these words don’t mean a checkbox, or a phase. They mean something messier, and that’s the part worth arguing about.

I’ve taken a run at defining quality properly. If that interests you, start here. Agility I’m still chewing on. Unfinished, like I said.

I see, I suggest, I fix, I drink coffee.

Sometimes this process turns into an article. Sometimes a thought that wouldn’t survive LinkedIn. I keep it all here because I’d rather not let an algorithm decide what’s worth keeping.

Fair warning: this place is not polished. I used to scrub everything clean, until I realised the cleaning was just a way to never publish. Now it’s a little messy, because my thoughts are messy. If that bothers you, check out my professional introduction and drop a message to collaborate on a project.

Thank you for reading.

- david

what lives here

five doors same place.

Use the fixed navigation or the compass button to jump through the site. Everything connects eventually.

davidworks Professional background, projects, roles, and the shape of the problems I have worked on. For people who need the serious version first. davidstuff Gear, tools, software, objects, and practical things I use, test, like, or wish to have. Some of it is probably just me overthinking. davidthinks The activity log: thoughts, photos, talks, tools, work, and updates in one stream. Sometimes five posts in a day. Sometimes silence for a month. davidcaptures Photographs and moments, mostly everyday life through a Fujifilm lens. davidtalks Talks, newsletters, notes, questions, and longer thoughts about quality, testing, decisions, and work. This is where the inbox part begins.
Sometimes polished. Sometimes quick. Usually written because something was worth noticing before it disappeared.

this changed recently.

Jun 13, 2026 Under the Bridge davidcaptures Feb 13, 2026 Positive People davidthinks Dec 18, 2025 Get a Little Angry davidtalks Nov 14, 2025 Build the Beacon (And Stop Getting "Quick Questions" at 4pm) davidtalks Oct 16, 2025 Will the management approve this PPT? davidtalks Aug 16, 2025 The hustle and bustle davidcaptures
Check out the whole MindLog
David Talks in your inbox

A letter for people who care.

One issue now and then about quality, testing, client-centric work, software delivery, and the decisions that shape all of it. No productivity theatre. No “ten tips to become world-class by Friday.“ Just useful thinking from the field: questions, patterns, mistakes, observations, and better ways to look at the work. For IT people, managers, testers, product people, and for those who take the words and their meanings seriously. Earned inboxes only.

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(according to the EU General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR)

Who we are (who I am)

What personal data we collect and why

Email address

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your email address for the sole purpose of delivering the requested service.

First name

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your first name for the sole purpose of personalizing the requested service.

Testimonials and other forms

When you submit a testimonial, we collect and store:

  • Your name (as you provide it)
  • Your role/job title
  • Your email address (for verification, not published)
  • Your testimonial text

The other forms on this site collect less. The contact form takes your name, email address, and message. The “three questions” form takes your answers and your email address.

This data and every other input form data is stored securely on Cloudflare’s infrastructure. A notification containing your name, role, and testimonial text (not your email), or other submitted form data is sent to the site owner via Telegram Messenger for review purposes. Approved testimonials may be published on the website. Your email address is stored only in Cloudflare and is never sent to Telegram, published, or shared with third parties.

Media

There are no visitor accounts on this website and visitors cannot upload images. Photographs published here are taken and uploaded by the site owner. They may retain the camera metadata (EXIF) embedded by the camera, such as the model, exposure settings, and date taken; they do not contain GPS location data.

Cookies

This website sets no cookies. You are not asked for cookie consent because there is nothing to consent to — no cookies, no advertising trackers, and no cross-site tracking.

The only data this site stores in your browser is a single session-storage entry that remembers which MindLog entry you last opened, so the page can return you to the right place after you navigate. It contains no personal data and your browser deletes it when you close the tab.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content, such as Spotify players. Embedded content from other websites behaves as if you visited that website directly. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content. This only applies to pages where such content is actually embedded.

Article pages also display webmentions — public replies and links from other websites. Your browser fetches these from webmention.io when you open such a page, and mentions from the Fediverse and other social networks reach it through brid.gy. Both handle publicly published content, and neither is used to identify you.

Analytics

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics, a privacy-first, cookieless analytics service provided by our hosting provider, to understand which pages are read and how the site performs.

It does not use cookies, local storage, or any other client-side state to identify you. It does not fingerprint you via your IP address, User Agent string, or any other attribute, and it does not track individual visitors across websites or over time. Instead it counts a “visit” simply as a page view whose referring link came from outside this website. No personal data is collected or used for analytics.

Read Cloudflare’s privacy policy here: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/.

Who we share your data with

We use trusted third-party providers to operate our website and services. Your data may be shared with:

  • Hosting provider: Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, which securely delivers our website content, processes our form submissions, and provides the cookieless analytics described above.
  • Source code repository: GitHub, Inc., 88 Colin P. Kelly Jr. Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, where our website’s source code is maintained.
  • Newsletter provider: Acumbamail S.L., Avenida del Rey Santo 3D, 3ª planta, Oficina 2, 13001 Ciudad Real, Spain, which manages newsletter subscriptions and communications.
  • Notification service: Telegram Messenger, which delivers a notification to the site owner when a form is submitted. It receives your name, your role, and your message or testimonial text. It never receives your email address.

These providers are engaged under their standard data processing terms, including Standard Contractual Clauses where data leaves the EU.

How long we retain your data

We only hold data you have actively submitted through a form on this site.

Newsletter subscriptions. Your email address and first name are stored until you withdraw consent. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any newsletter, or by contacting [email protected].

Form submissions (testimonials, contact messages, and question answers). These are kept for as long as they remain relevant to the purpose you sent them for. They are not deleted on a fixed schedule. You can ask for your submission to be deleted at any time by emailing [email protected], and it will be.

Legal basis: User consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)).

Your rights under GDPR

As a data subject, you have the following rights:

  • Right to access: Request information about the personal data we process.
  • Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”): Request deletion of your personal data.
  • Right to restriction of processing: Request limited processing in certain cases.
  • Right to data portability: Request a copy of your personal data in a commonly used format.
  • Right to withdraw consent: At any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
  • Right to lodge a complaint: With your local supervisory authority. In Sweden, this is Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY).

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will respond within one month, as GDPR requires.

Data transfers outside the EU

Some of our service providers are located outside the EU: Cloudflare and GitHub are in the USA, and Telegram operates outside the EU. We only transfer data to countries that ensure an adequate level of data protection in accordance with GDPR (e.g., via Standard Contractual Clauses).

How we protect your data

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to secure your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The revised version will apply as soon as it is published on the website. By continuing to use our services, you accept the updated policy.

Last updated: 4. August 2026

Share Your Experience

0/2000

"Davids posts point right at the core of my professional experiences. The pains and how to solve them are just the ways I have seen them being solved best. Looking forward to the next mail from him."

Pablo Test Specialist & Test Strategist

"David’s posts remind me of when you and like-minded friends dive into very interesting topics, everyone is enthusiastic and you stand up from the table hours later feeling like you were able to make a small corner of the world a little better and more organized. David thinks through and describes in a clear and structured way what you may have already thought about, but haven’t yet articulated."

Zsani thinker / architect

"This newsletter is a rare combination of thought-provoking professional insight and an honest, human tone. If you are looking for polished solutions and exact answers, look somewhere else because rather asks questions (the right ones), and encourage you to look at quality from a different angle. Some of the thoughts that you encounter in the newsletter may go deep, but for me the real strenght is that it both brings structure and still challenge assumptions. Give this newsletter a chance, it may change (or at least challenge) a lot of things in your head."

Tomas developer

(according to the EU General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR)

Who we are (who I am)

What personal data we collect and why

Email address

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your email address for the sole purpose of delivering the requested service.

First name

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your first name for the sole purpose of personalizing the requested service.

Testimonials and other forms

When you submit a testimonial, we collect and store:

  • Your name (as you provide it)
  • Your role/job title
  • Your email address (for verification, not published)
  • Your testimonial text

The other forms on this site collect less. The contact form takes your name, email address, and message. The “three questions” form takes your answers and your email address.

This data and every other input form data is stored securely on Cloudflare’s infrastructure. A notification containing your name, role, and testimonial text (not your email), or other submitted form data is sent to the site owner via Telegram Messenger for review purposes. Approved testimonials may be published on the website. Your email address is stored only in Cloudflare and is never sent to Telegram, published, or shared with third parties.

Media

There are no visitor accounts on this website and visitors cannot upload images. Photographs published here are taken and uploaded by the site owner. They may retain the camera metadata (EXIF) embedded by the camera, such as the model, exposure settings, and date taken; they do not contain GPS location data.

Cookies

This website sets no cookies. You are not asked for cookie consent because there is nothing to consent to — no cookies, no advertising trackers, and no cross-site tracking.

The only data this site stores in your browser is a single session-storage entry that remembers which MindLog entry you last opened, so the page can return you to the right place after you navigate. It contains no personal data and your browser deletes it when you close the tab.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content, such as Spotify players. Embedded content from other websites behaves as if you visited that website directly. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content. This only applies to pages where such content is actually embedded.

Article pages also display webmentions — public replies and links from other websites. Your browser fetches these from webmention.io when you open such a page, and mentions from the Fediverse and other social networks reach it through brid.gy. Both handle publicly published content, and neither is used to identify you.

Analytics

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics, a privacy-first, cookieless analytics service provided by our hosting provider, to understand which pages are read and how the site performs.

It does not use cookies, local storage, or any other client-side state to identify you. It does not fingerprint you via your IP address, User Agent string, or any other attribute, and it does not track individual visitors across websites or over time. Instead it counts a “visit” simply as a page view whose referring link came from outside this website. No personal data is collected or used for analytics.

Read Cloudflare’s privacy policy here: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/.

Who we share your data with

We use trusted third-party providers to operate our website and services. Your data may be shared with:

  • Hosting provider: Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, which securely delivers our website content, processes our form submissions, and provides the cookieless analytics described above.
  • Source code repository: GitHub, Inc., 88 Colin P. Kelly Jr. Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, where our website’s source code is maintained.
  • Newsletter provider: Acumbamail S.L., Avenida del Rey Santo 3D, 3ª planta, Oficina 2, 13001 Ciudad Real, Spain, which manages newsletter subscriptions and communications.
  • Notification service: Telegram Messenger, which delivers a notification to the site owner when a form is submitted. It receives your name, your role, and your message or testimonial text. It never receives your email address.

These providers are engaged under their standard data processing terms, including Standard Contractual Clauses where data leaves the EU.

How long we retain your data

We only hold data you have actively submitted through a form on this site.

Newsletter subscriptions. Your email address and first name are stored until you withdraw consent. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any newsletter, or by contacting [email protected].

Form submissions (testimonials, contact messages, and question answers). These are kept for as long as they remain relevant to the purpose you sent them for. They are not deleted on a fixed schedule. You can ask for your submission to be deleted at any time by emailing [email protected], and it will be.

Legal basis: User consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)).

Your rights under GDPR

As a data subject, you have the following rights:

  • Right to access: Request information about the personal data we process.
  • Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”): Request deletion of your personal data.
  • Right to restriction of processing: Request limited processing in certain cases.
  • Right to data portability: Request a copy of your personal data in a commonly used format.
  • Right to withdraw consent: At any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
  • Right to lodge a complaint: With your local supervisory authority. In Sweden, this is Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY).

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will respond within one month, as GDPR requires.

Data transfers outside the EU

Some of our service providers are located outside the EU: Cloudflare and GitHub are in the USA, and Telegram operates outside the EU. We only transfer data to countries that ensure an adequate level of data protection in accordance with GDPR (e.g., via Standard Contractual Clauses).

How we protect your data

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to secure your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The revised version will apply as soon as it is published on the website. By continuing to use our services, you accept the updated policy.

Last updated: 4. August 2026

♥

Thank you!

Your testimonial has been submitted. I really appreciate you taking the time!

say hello

Get in touch

This is a form to send me a message. Of course if you are subscribed, you can just answer to any of the e-mails. But it's your choice.

0/2000

(according to the EU General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR)

Who we are (who I am)

What personal data we collect and why

Email address

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your email address for the sole purpose of delivering the requested service.

First name

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your first name for the sole purpose of personalizing the requested service.

Testimonials and other forms

When you submit a testimonial, we collect and store:

  • Your name (as you provide it)
  • Your role/job title
  • Your email address (for verification, not published)
  • Your testimonial text

The other forms on this site collect less. The contact form takes your name, email address, and message. The “three questions” form takes your answers and your email address.

This data and every other input form data is stored securely on Cloudflare’s infrastructure. A notification containing your name, role, and testimonial text (not your email), or other submitted form data is sent to the site owner via Telegram Messenger for review purposes. Approved testimonials may be published on the website. Your email address is stored only in Cloudflare and is never sent to Telegram, published, or shared with third parties.

Media

There are no visitor accounts on this website and visitors cannot upload images. Photographs published here are taken and uploaded by the site owner. They may retain the camera metadata (EXIF) embedded by the camera, such as the model, exposure settings, and date taken; they do not contain GPS location data.

Cookies

This website sets no cookies. You are not asked for cookie consent because there is nothing to consent to — no cookies, no advertising trackers, and no cross-site tracking.

The only data this site stores in your browser is a single session-storage entry that remembers which MindLog entry you last opened, so the page can return you to the right place after you navigate. It contains no personal data and your browser deletes it when you close the tab.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content, such as Spotify players. Embedded content from other websites behaves as if you visited that website directly. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content. This only applies to pages where such content is actually embedded.

Article pages also display webmentions — public replies and links from other websites. Your browser fetches these from webmention.io when you open such a page, and mentions from the Fediverse and other social networks reach it through brid.gy. Both handle publicly published content, and neither is used to identify you.

Analytics

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics, a privacy-first, cookieless analytics service provided by our hosting provider, to understand which pages are read and how the site performs.

It does not use cookies, local storage, or any other client-side state to identify you. It does not fingerprint you via your IP address, User Agent string, or any other attribute, and it does not track individual visitors across websites or over time. Instead it counts a “visit” simply as a page view whose referring link came from outside this website. No personal data is collected or used for analytics.

Read Cloudflare’s privacy policy here: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/.

Who we share your data with

We use trusted third-party providers to operate our website and services. Your data may be shared with:

  • Hosting provider: Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, which securely delivers our website content, processes our form submissions, and provides the cookieless analytics described above.
  • Source code repository: GitHub, Inc., 88 Colin P. Kelly Jr. Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, where our website’s source code is maintained.
  • Newsletter provider: Acumbamail S.L., Avenida del Rey Santo 3D, 3ª planta, Oficina 2, 13001 Ciudad Real, Spain, which manages newsletter subscriptions and communications.
  • Notification service: Telegram Messenger, which delivers a notification to the site owner when a form is submitted. It receives your name, your role, and your message or testimonial text. It never receives your email address.

These providers are engaged under their standard data processing terms, including Standard Contractual Clauses where data leaves the EU.

How long we retain your data

We only hold data you have actively submitted through a form on this site.

Newsletter subscriptions. Your email address and first name are stored until you withdraw consent. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any newsletter, or by contacting [email protected].

Form submissions (testimonials, contact messages, and question answers). These are kept for as long as they remain relevant to the purpose you sent them for. They are not deleted on a fixed schedule. You can ask for your submission to be deleted at any time by emailing [email protected], and it will be.

Legal basis: User consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)).

Your rights under GDPR

As a data subject, you have the following rights:

  • Right to access: Request information about the personal data we process.
  • Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”): Request deletion of your personal data.
  • Right to restriction of processing: Request limited processing in certain cases.
  • Right to data portability: Request a copy of your personal data in a commonly used format.
  • Right to withdraw consent: At any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
  • Right to lodge a complaint: With your local supervisory authority. In Sweden, this is Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY).

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will respond within one month, as GDPR requires.

Data transfers outside the EU

Some of our service providers are located outside the EU: Cloudflare and GitHub are in the USA, and Telegram operates outside the EU. We only transfer data to countries that ensure an adequate level of data protection in accordance with GDPR (e.g., via Standard Contractual Clauses).

How we protect your data

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to secure your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The revised version will apply as soon as it is published on the website. By continuing to use our services, you accept the updated policy.

Last updated: 4. August 2026

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