Den Odell

Engineering + Empathy

I’m a web developer and author who believes great software is built at the intersection of engineering and empathy. Technical excellence matters, but only in service of how things feel to the people using them. I write about it here, and in three books. That’s the thread running through 25 years of building for hundreds of millions of people.

Trusted by teams at Canva, Nike, Volvo Cars, AKQA, and more.

New bookOut now
Fast by Default book cover

Fast by Default

The practical performance engineering guide to building fast web, native, and backend software from the outset.

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Your SPA Is Leaking Memory. Soak Test It

29 July 2026 · 8 min

Some teams force-reload their single-page web apps (SPAs) every few hours just to clear the memory the app leaked. A frontend soak test finds the leak instead.

Also in the Journal

  • The Great Agent Skills Land Grab

    10 June 2026 · 8 min

    Thousands of AI agent skills have flooded GitHub recently, most of them teaching models what they already know. The land grab is on.

  • Browsers Treat Big Sites Differently

    14 May 2026 · 7 min

    Safari and Firefox change how big sites render based on the domain. TikTok, Netflix, Instagram… even SeatGuru. Chrome doesn’t. Why is that?

  • The Design-Minded Engineer

    28 April 2026 · 12 min

    Designers have been complaining for decades that what ships doesn’t match what they designed. The fix isn’t better handoffs or AI tools. It’s engineers who can see what designers see.

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Monthly notes on engineering, writing, and the craft of building software. No fluff.