Den Odell
Frontend Architect · Author · Staff Engineer at CanvaBuilt web apps used by millions. Wrote the books that teach others how.
Trusted by teams at Canva, Nike, Volvo Cars, AKQA, and more.
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What happens after posts go viral. Technical decisions that matter.
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Constraints and the Lost Art of Optimization 23 February 2026How working within hard limits produced some of the most elegant software in history, and what we can learn from it.
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Fast by Default 9 February 2026You don’t need more performance heroes on your engineering team. Make the fast path the easy path.
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The Main Thread Is Not Yours 8 January 2026Every millisecond your JavaScript runs is a millisecond borrowed from your users. Here's how to be a better guest on the main thread.
Performance Engineering in Practice
Performance Engineering in Practice is the practical guide to building software systems that are fast by default. Covers web, backend, mobile, and desktop.
Fast by Default
A software development model that treats performance as a first-class requirement, shaping decisions in architecture, code, testing, deployment, and team habits.
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Feed us your package.json. Get back AI-powered insights on performance-critical dependencies, over-bundled modules, and smarter package choices. Also available as a CLI for CI/CD integration.
👋 Hi, I’m Den Odell, a frontend architect, developer, and author.
I’ve helped ship products for global brands, led the frontend discipline at AKQA, and written three books on software engineering. I now build tools and teach practices that make fast, accessible software the default.
Read more about me →