This is my first weekly update on my simpler weekly update site (looks like I need to improve the social sharing) https://weeks.mtlynch.io/2025-07-11/

I'm shutting down What Got Done, my free weekly status update app. The source remains available, and I've added tools for exporting/migrating your data. Thanks to everyone who tried the app over the years! https://www.whatgotdone.com/shutdown-notice

June was my most productive writing month ever, but now I'm trying to avoid juggling too many tasks at once. https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/2025/07/

A quote from Refactoring English made it to LWN's development quote of the week. https://lwn.net/Articles/1026880/

I recently returned two dead hard drives to a merchant and was surprised to discover that they'd accidentally published my home address, email, and order details, along with every other customer who'd returned defective merchandise. https://mtlynch.io/goharddrive-leak/

So many release announcements just enumerate new features without connecting them to real use cases, essentially just a fancy changelog. A good release announcement should excite users. And it should NEVER include the phrase "various bugfixes and improvements." https://refactoringenglish.com/chapters/release-announcements/

I'm trying to learn a new programming language that's significantly different from other languages I know, so here are my notes from my first few hours working with Gleam https://mtlynch.io/notes/gleam-first-impressions/

Based on this CO2 graph, can you guess the point in the weekend I was playing with dry ice?

I'm experimenting with the Gleam programming language. One of its features is that it can call Elixir libraries, but I couldn't find any examples, so I wrote my own. https://mtlynch.io/notes/gleam-call-elixir/

In my May retrospective, I discovered that giving myself more time limits in my writing has helped me publish more and focus better. https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/2025/06/

Great NixOS post, very accessible to Nix beginners
https://mas.to/@zekjur/114606680677231598

I'm looking for a new programming language to learn. I want something that will frighten and confuse me as a Go/Python/C++ programmer. Must treat web apps as first-class citizens and be friendly for making simple CRUD apps. Bonus for static typing. https://mtlynch.io/notes/which-new-language/

For example, this is a release announcement that I think does a good job of high-signal, low-noise, focus on user-impacting improvements: https://phanpy.social/#/m.mtlynch.io/s/114591673427625686

I'm working on a guide to writing compelling software release announcements. What are your favorite examples of products who write great release announcements? What are some anti-patterns companies should avoid?

I'm on the latest episode of the tmpdir podcast to talk about how developers can improve their writing and how that can help them in their careers and side projects. https://tmpdir.org/044/

Got several useful tips about LLMs, open-source development, blogging, and being an indie founder from @simon's recent interview on the Software Misadventures podcast, so I wrote up my takeaways. https://mtlynch.io/notes/simon-willison-software-misadventures/

Always enjoy seeing @zekjur share his approach to choosing hardware components and networking infrastructure.
https://mas.to/@zekjur/114512167622724525

@adam - We'd love to have you!

If you're in the Western Mass area and you've got an indie business, side project, or want to start one, join me next week for a meetup in Hadley, MA https://www.meetup.com/nerdsummit/events/307237486/

I guess people really liked my latest blog post
https://fosstodon.org/@plausible/114477036344612650