Welcome to Nonlinear.Garden I'm Jesse Alford. I write about technology. Music is technology. Language is technology. Invention is ancient. In addition to writing about it, I build and use technology - for myself, and for clients. I consult on team problems, system problems, delivery problems, and pioneering new approaches and targets for deployment of technology. I've spent the last decade working on continuous delivery of platforms built of distributed systems with cloud computing and its immediate antecedents. Now, I want to build less-abstract things for more-direct users. Consulting engagements and personal projects are one way I do this. Writing is another. Right now, I'm focusing on sense-making, trying to articulate some of what I understand about how to work with technology as a human in a way that's useful to others. I hope you'll join me.

Writing about toolchains, bad tools, and making engineers happy.

Building at the intersection of GenAI, agentic workflows, and data infrastructure.

Daily reporting about Wi-Fi and other wireless data, including hotspots, home networks, commuter Wi-Fi, and in-flight Internet.