# Caseysoftware

> Keith Casey's Corner of the Internet

> Generated by All in One SEO v5.0.3, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://caseysoftware.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [The War on Driving](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-war-on-driving): This is a guest post from the Master of All Things Testy, Chris Hartjes aka Grumpy Programmer. He serves as one of the organizers of the True North PHP Conference next week and is a vocal software testing advocate. He had some opinions on my last post, so I'm sharing my space with him: Despite his constant
- [Getting Started with Webhooks](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/getting-started-with-webhooks): From the earliest webhooks at Twilio to every major SaaS platform, webhooks have become a defacto standard in web development. We use them for everything from kicking off workflows to changing the flow and operation of our apps. In terms of use, it makes sense because webhooks serve to send messages between two systems while
- [Authorization in AI Systems with Pangea Multipass](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/authorization-in-ai-systems-with-pangea-multipass): This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 14 January 2025. As we’ve worked with customers evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs) for their organizations, the recurring theme was authorization. In too many of these systems, data in the form of pdfs, Google docs, and more are added to give better, more refined answers
- [Protecting our PQL Funnel](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/protecting-our-pql-funnel): Using passive signals to block bots, spammers, and bad actors This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 18 July 2024. “We had 100 signups today!” is one of the most beautiful things you can hear as a young startup. It’s a sign that you’re doing something right. Your product solves a real
- [Pangea AuthZ: Inherited Permissions](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/pangea-authz-inherited-permissions): This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 07 January 2025. Designing authorization is fundamentally a challenge. Not only do you have to understand your problem and domain fully but you also need to understand the limits of your tools. If you get either wrong - or maybe just not as correct as
- [AuthZ: ABAC == true](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/authz-abac-true): This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 10 September 2024. All of access control comes down to one fundamental question: How do we grant the right access to the right things to the right people and systems for the right amount of time? Every other question addresses an aspect or nuance within
- [AuthZ: Access Controls from A to Z](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/authz-access-controls-from-a-to-z): Your Apps mature over time, why doesn't your authorization policy? This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 28 May 2024. At first glance, authorization seems easier than authentication. After all, with authentication you have to worry about user onboarding, social auth, MFA, password resets, and more. Authorization starts from the simple question
- [Do Passkeys Solve the Deployability Issue?](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/do-passkeys-solve-the-deployability-issue): This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 13 May 2024. I’ve lost count of how many RSA Tokens, Yubikeys, and the like I’ve collected, lost, misplaced, replaced, and cursed over the years. While they’re exceptionally secure, they’re a pain for both administrators to deploy and users to keep track of. Either of
- [Introducing Passkeys from Pangea](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/introducing-passkeys-from-pangea): This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 06 March 2024. In today's app-centric landscape, security is fundamental. While there isn't a single portion of our life untouched by technology, we're still stuck with the decades-old security practices of passwords. At Pangea, we're excited to improve our customers' ecosystems with the launch of
- [Using IPs, Domains, and Geolocation to secure your Authentication](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/using-ips-domains-and-geolocation-to-secure-your-authentication): This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 02 January 2024. When I say “secure authentication,” what comes to mind? You probably think of SSL, password policies, and MFA. Those are a good starting point but what if we could look into the authentication request itself? What if we could use that request
- [Social Media for Social Evil - Part I Impersonation](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/social-media-for-social-evil-part-i-impersonation): This is the first of what is intended to be a three part series. I've used this space to talk about the concepts of Open Source Intelligence using Social Networks with the early analysis focused on LinkedIn (Part 1, Part 2). This weekend when Mike Arrington created a fake Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google) on
- [My Reading List (2021)](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/my-reading-list-2021): After college, I resolved to read one book a month. It can be fiction, non-fiction, technical, business-oriented, or whatever as the goal was to always be absorbing and digesting new ideas and information, even just for fun. With the Kindle app and travel, that was always easy. In 2021, I had a series of major life changes
- [Building Authorization in AI Apps](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/building-authorization-in-ai-apps): This was originally published on the Pangea Cyber blog on 30 October 2024. When we look at the current state of generative AI, we think of products like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, and similar. Those are all publicly available tools trained on public data and useful for general topics for a general audience. But if
- [LinkedIn Intelligence - Part II](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/linkedin-intelligence-part-ii): Two months ago, when I wrote on using LinkedIn to gain information on your competitors - titled "Open Source Intelligence: LinkedIn" - I expected no response. It's been an interesting and useful exercise of mine that I thought a few would get a kick out of... nothing more. Publicly, yes, that's exactly what has happened...
- [Mistakes and Successes in Building ScottAdamsSaid](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/using-ai-to-build-scottadamssaid-com): TLDR: After Scott Adams died on January 13, 2026, I decided to restore his blog having no clue what I was getting into. In 6.5 days, I restored 1913 blog posts from the Wayback Machine - including topic tags, many images, and links - using a combination of scripting, AI, and APIs to extract, clean
- [The Problem with Would](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-problem-with-would): Over the past decade, I've started, been employed by, and advised a flock of startups. More recently, I've been an advisor at events like Startup Weekend, Lean Startup Machine, and Techstars Austin. One of the big pushes in recent years - I suspect primarily due to Lean Startup - is customer interviews. At some point
- [Finding out what Matters to your Customers](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/finding-out-what-matters-to-your-customers): While I've flipped between Product Manager and Product Marketer for the past decade, I've also had the chance to work with some of the best PMs at Twilio, Okta, ngrok, and now Pangea. I've conducted interviews with customers ranging from small one-man startups that are a vague idea to Fortune 50 companies with brand names
- [Economic Principles: Part 1 - Mismatched Motivations](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/economic-principles-part-1-mismatched-motivations): In the last few weeks, I've had numerous discussions involving economic theory ranging from the complex to the mundane. After having six slight variations of every single conversation, I thought I would start documenting them here. And besides, I figured I should actually put my economics minor to use.. Speaking in generalities.. When you have
- [Economic Principles: Part 2 - Killing Motivation](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/economic-principles-part-2-killing-motivation): In the last few weeks, I've had numerous discussions involving economic theory ranging from the complex to the mundane. After having six slight variations of every single conversation, I thought I would start documenting them here. And besides, I figured I should actually put my economics minor to use.. In the US, when we talk
- [SugarCon 2011: Transparent Collaboration](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/sugarcon-2011-transparent-collaboration): At the insistence of John Mertic - Developer Liasion of SugarCRM - whom I met in January at PHPBenelux 2011, I submitted and was accepted to speak at SugarCon 2011 next month. My session - Transparent Collaboration - covers a part of open source that drives most of us up the wall.. integration. Here's the
- [Two Years as an Accidental Product Manager](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/two-years-as-an-accidental-product-manager): When web2project was first formed in November 2007, I was recruited to work on the community side of things. I had previously earned a spot on the dotProject team by performing support in the forums, blogging, writing the occasional documentation, collecting user feedback, and tracking bug reports, so it was familiar ground. As we pushed
- [Project Manager-Solving Team Conflicts](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/project-manager-solving-team-conflicts): Project Manager-Solving Team Conflicts. When two or more persons work together in a project for a common goal, conflicts may occur. What we mean by conflict - is nothing else but the disagreement that broke out between individuals due to difference in their views, thoughts and opinions. Conflicts are natural. But at any time, it
- [Developer Smackdown #46 on Community](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/developer-smackdown-46-on-community): Last month I attended SXSW for the third time. In addition to having a good time and meeting up with friends & colleagues, I had the chance to be a guest on Developer Smackdown to talk about Community and the similarities and differences between them in the PHP and .Net Communities. Unicorn Rhinos, Mexican Martini's,
- [Project Scheduling](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/project-scheduling): Whenever scheduling a project , check for the following 1) Padding of task durations Team member will play it safe by buffering time required for tasks. This approach usually results in various time wasting practices, e.g., waiting until the last moment to complete a task. As a result, all the safety time can be wasted
- [The Second Key to running Successful Improvement Projects: Senior Sponsor Support](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-second-key-to-running-successful-improvement-projects-senior-sponsor-support): In my previous blog, posted here on the 28th of February, I spoke about the first key to Successful Improvement Projects; “An Uncompromising Focus on the Customer.” At the conclusion of that posting, I promised to follow it up with the second key; Senior Sponsor Support. Read on to find out about the second key…
- [How to build a Project Management Office](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/how-to-build-a-project-management-office): In today’s complex company environment new projects are continuously being developed as organizations seek new ways to lessen expenses, enhance processes, increase productivity, and build their bottom line. Managing these diverse projects along with their individuals, resources, technology, and communication is really a challenging endeavor for which the risk of failure is frequently far too
- [php|tek 2011 Hackathon](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/phptek-2011-hackathon): If you haven't figured out by now, I attend quite a few conferences and catch a lot of presentations from numerous speakers. I've found that most presenters have a sweet spot. They're good at expressing a concept but don't get into the code. Others can build ridiculously powerful applications but couldn't describe the concept if
- [php|tek 2011 Closing Remarks](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/phptek-2011-closing-remarks): A few weeks ago at php|tek, I was lucky enough to deliver the Closing Remarks. Well.. it was less "lucky" and more of a "wait.. you haven't done anything this week, make yourself useful." So after a week of sessions, midnight hackathons, midnight unconference, tornados, power outages, a red carpet entrance, a family reunion, I
- [How to write a good product requirements document](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/how-to-write-a-good-product-requirements-document): Written by Chris Pinter February 1, 2010 The development of new technology starts from a marketing perspective. It is important to know what you are building before you build it. Business Analysts’ are constantly asking the question… What does the market want? Knowing the answer is the key to success. Documenting the facts and key
- [Friday Night Hacks - August 2011](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/friday-night-hacks-august-2011): A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in Austin's first Friday Night Hacks hosted by Damon Clinkscales. When he first told me about the concept, I was intruiged: Friday Night Hacks is an opportunity to connect, share ideas, build cool stuff and launch projects into the community. We typically do this into
- [Projects vs operational work - How do companies organise to be 'best' at both?](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/projects-vs-operational-work-how-do-companies-organise-to-be-best-at-both): Read it on the blog is a project and engineering management discussion blog. A kind of 'Carrie Bradshaw' view of the engineering blogging world, only without the shoe fetish! The aim of this, my second blog, is to open a debate on what is the most appropriate organisational design for companies that are required to
- [The Virtual PMO](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-virtual-pmo): A few of the most common questions we get at Pranagy Unlimited LLC are: * Is a virtual project management office right for my organization? * What does my firm need to start a PMO? * What are the benefits of a PMO? * How does my company start building a project management organization? Here
- [Interview Tip: Passion will Win the Day](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/interview-tip-passion-will-win-the-day): Although I attended the event below on behalf of my employer Twilio, this is not necessarily their position on this topic. I write representing my own opinion and thoughts.. Last week, I was tapped to represent Twilio at the Made In Austin recruiting event at University of Texas-Austin. While the event was well-organized, the students
- [2011 Conference Recap](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/2011-conference-recap): In previous years, I've reviewed & covered each conference as I went to them. In 2011, I got so busy that I gave up midway through the year and just decided to do a recap at the end.. it's only now that I realized how many I actually attended. So without further ado.. here are
- [Being a Great Project Leader – The Top 5 Tips](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/being-a-great-project-leader-the-top-5-tips): A good project leader always knows how to make the team work better and with performance. Project leadership provides an opportunity to effective team building and collaboration. Read the top 5 tips in this quick article to find out how to be a fantastic leader of your project. Take the five tips to improve your
- [Dealing with Scoping Challenges/ Negotiations (10 Tips)](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/dealing-with-scoping-challenges-negotiations-10-tips): It's always a big challenge for a project manager to deal with scoping the work product. I guess reasons for the same we all know as mentioned below. 1. Customers always want more. 2. Architect/ Tech leads thinks every one in the team is as capable as they are. 3. Team always thinks estimation is
- [Developer Evangelism: The Whole Story](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/developer-evangelism-the-whole-story): Developer evangelism has been both the best and worst job in my career. Before I go any further, let me state that I loved working for Twilio. It's cool technology but more importantly the passion, intelligence, and the ability of the senior leadership and just about everyone else is amazing. I walked in and felt
- [The Benefits of Sticking to It](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-benefits-of-sticking-to-it): Today a client of mine emailed me with great news. He is starting to see results from the last 6 months of his marketing efforts. For instance, his sales pipeline is heating up thanks to an educational letter and follow up campaign we worked on - including 2 recently closed deals. He just spoke at
- [Hodgepodge of Lessons Learned from a Busy Week](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/hodgepodge-of-lessons-learned-from-a-busy-week): Well, I’m as swamped as I’ve been in a long time, thanks to a business trip to Illinois to work with a University on commercializing a beautiful market maker website and technology for agricultural users. This was a great trip, and here’s a mish mash of lessons: 1. Universities are an untapped market. Many of
- [Austin Tech Events, September 25th Edition](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/austin-tech-events-september-25th-edition): This is an ongoing list of upcoming tech events in/around Austin or especially relevant to the groups I participate in. It shouldn't be considered perfect but is pretty good. This is limited to approximately 90 days for sanity's sake. Everything is in Austin unless otherwise noted. September 27-29th -- Lean Startup Machine - a weekend experience
- [Austin Tech Events, September 12th Edition](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/austin-tech-events-september-12th-edition): This is an ongoing list of upcoming tech events in/around Austin or especially relevant to the groups I participate in. It shouldn't be considered perfect but is pretty good. This is limited to approximately 90 days for sanity's sake. Everything is in Austin unless otherwise noted. September 17-19th -- TwilioCon 2013 in San Francisco - If
- [The Importance of Non-judgement and non-attachment in sales and entrepreneurship](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-importance-of-non-judgement-and-non-attachment-in-sales-and-entrepreneurship): The last blog post talked about the importance of failure. There are two mindsets that makes failure acceptable and bearable, and they are non-judgment and non-attachment. Both of these mindsets mean that you can go all out to get your business going, or to make a sale—but you stay a bit detached. You don’t judge
- [The Absolute Importance of Failure](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-absolute-importance-of-failure): A recent post to a blog entry asked about failure and what to do if you have never failed. I have to confess that I am one of the biggest failures you will ever meet. And that’s a good thing from my point of view. 4 out of 5 businesses or ideas I have fail.
- [PHP and Twilio on Google App Engine](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/php-and-twilio-on-google-app-engine): As of Google IO this year, Google App Engine officially supports PHP. While it's still in beta, you can tweak your applications and give it a try right now. I've included some of my lessons learned from getting Twilio's quickstarts functional on GAE. You can read the results here: Getting started with Twilio on Google
- [Vocabulary for Startups - Part 1 of N](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/vocabulary-for-startups-part-1-of-n): I was recently invited to get an opening talk at Startup Weekend Houston specifically on customer validation. I enjoy developing interview questions and actually talking with potential customers, so it seemed like a great opportunity. As I got closer to the actual presentation, I realized that by jumping into the interview stage, I would be
- [CoderFaire Atlanta 2013](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/coderfaire-atlanta-2013): Next week I'm headed down to sunny Atlanta to speak at the second CoderFaire. It's a two day event giving people the opportunity to connect across technology communities to learn new stuff and create fun things. That's the cool thing about CoderFaire. Unlike the PHP events or the .Net events or all the other language/technology-specific
- [Advice about Legal Advice](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/advice-about-legal-advice): Note: The following is not legal advice.. it is an explanation of legal advice. If you need legal advice, hire an attorney. Earlier this week, a student I'm mentoring asked about my "IP Agreements at Hackathons" post. He plans to attend the event in question and asked me specifically about the IP agreement and what
- [5 Technologies to Turbo-Charge Project Efficiency](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/5-technologies-to-turbo-charge-project-efficiency): Keeping projects moving in any business can be a challenge, but with the help of technology, many of the traditional obstacles to efficiency can be overcome. Some of the roadblocks have always been to create well-laid out plans, transfer documents to multiple people for editing, meet deadlines, and finally, get the proper approvals to get
- [Avoiding Common Bottlenecks When Implementing ERP](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/avoiding-common-bottlenecks-when-implementing-erp): Advances in technology have made ERP systems a popular way of optimizing how businesses operate. From streamlining production, HR and accounting processes to analyzing trends and reports, these software suites offer powerful benefits to businesses of all sizes. However, the overall success of an ERP implementation is dependent on the strategic planning process. ERP implementation
- [Sexism in the PHP Community](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/sexism-in-the-php-community): This blog post heavily quotes my occasional collaborator Cal Evans. The quotes are used with permission. The link to the original is at the bottom. Despite the problems with sexism in the tech community in general, the PHP community has had it pretty easy. While there are potentially a number of reasons, the founder of
- [Naming Conventions FTW](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/naming-conventions-ftw): When we start projects, we often follow the naming conventions of our frameworks without even thinking about the "Why?" It almost seems silly to ask until you run into a - hopefully, legacy - codebase that has an incomplete or inconsistent scheme. Unfortunately, web2project is one of those codebases. For those just joining us, we
- [Project Initiation Phase - How to Initiate a Project](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/project-initiation-phase-how-to-initiate-a-project): The project initiation phase is the critical phase within the project life-cycle. It is also called the project pre-planning phase and about stating the basic characteristics of the project. To successfully initiate a project, you need to which basics steps are required to carry out to develop a business case, undertake a feasibility study, develop
- [Beverage Subgroup: The Why and How](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/beverage-subgroup-the-why-and-how): Almost six years ago now (whoa!), I was a regular agitator in the Washington, DC PHP Developer's Community (DCPHP). The community was probably a hundred people with skills ranging from total newbs who couldn't spell PHP to contributors to major open source projects. At that point, we consisted solely of a monthly presentation-style meeting and a mailing
- [web2project Permissions Crash Course](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/web2project-permissions-crash-course): One of the most common configurations out there is related to allowing web2project users to have access to only specific companies. While it's not as simple as saying "users should only see things from their own company," it's not as complicated as you might think. Here's how I've done it for various groups. If you
- [ERP Effectiveness in Small Business Project Management](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/erp-effectiveness-in-small-business-project-management): Project managers understand how critical the need to streamline all their project’s activities really is. The only way to reach milestones on time and ensure key deliverables are achieved is to build efficiency into every step of the system. So why do so many project managers, especially those in small and mid-sized businesses, rely on
- [5 Fundamental Documents for a Project](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/5-fundamental-documents-for-a-project): A good project manager keeps good documentation. That person organizes project documentation in a way that ensures easy and authorized access to document creation, editing and archiving. But how to know which documents to develop and keep within a project? In this article I’m going to list top 5 documents that you, as a great
- [IP Agreements at Hackathons](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/ip-agreements-at-hackathons): Disclaimer: What I share here is personal opinion and analysis and does not necessarily reflect my employer's position or opinion. I was not going to share any of this publicly.. until yesterday. Update 01 Sept 2012: If you're interested in following this story further, please check out my site WhatIs3DayStartup.wordpress.com where I cover this situation
- [Standard Types of Project Report](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/standard-types-of-project-report): Most companies involved in managing projects often have to use multiple types of project report to establish communication between the managers and the performers. However, every report takes some time to develop, maintain, read and follow up. Obviously it would be much faster and cost-effectively to use several standard report formats. Standard types of report
- [Refactor vs Rebuild: New Years make New Beginnings](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/refactor-vs-rebuild-new-years-make-new-beginnings): We're at that time of year where everyone wants to start something new. We have a flood of articles and blog posts about "what I'm going to do differently this year" and everyone wants to [choose: lose weight, read more, get out of debt, get that new job, etc, etc]. If they're lazy, this urge
- [Marvel API - Helper Library](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/marvel-api-helper-library): It's a dark and stormy night. You've been working on that last bit of code and an explosion rocks your living room. In walks Doctor Doom with a simple demand: How many other "doctors" are in the Marvel universe? Unless you're Comic Book Guy and know this off the top of your head, you're going
- [PHP5.5 and JSON Licensing or Licenses and You](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/php5-5-and-json-licensing-or-licenses-and-you): Everything noted below is professional advice not legal advice. I'm not a lawyer, so check with your legal department or similar before you use open source software, regardless of the license. In terms of software licensing, I have a simple principle: Don't make things unnecessarily complicated. Let's face it, most developers don't understand licensing. They
- [What is Keith Casey Doing Now?](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/what-is-keith-casey-doing-now): Since Twilio and I parted ways a few months ago, I've had a number of people ask "what's next?" and for a while I didn't have an answer. I just wanted to stop and catch my breath. In fact, I planned to take December off. That lasted all of 4 days.. First, I decided to
- [DrupalCon Austin Call for Presenters](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/drupalcon-austin-call-for-presenters): For the first time ever, DrupalCon is joining us in the great State of Texas, specifically right here in Austin over the week of June 2nd-6th. As a part of that, I've been tapped to serve as the Chair of the Coding & Development Track. It basically means that I'm in charge of reviewing every
- [Don't Attend a Hackathon](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/dont-attend-a-hackathon): This past weekend was our third annual ATX Hack for Change. It was still hosted at St Edwards University, but this time it was organized by the City of Austin's Innovation Office. While Kerry O'Connor is the Chief Innovation Officer, her staff ran much of the show over the weekend. I was lucky enough to be invited
- [Pacific Northwest PHP 2015](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/pacific-northwest-php-2015): Last week, I returned from the inaugural Pacific Northwest PHP Conference in Seattle, Washington. Like most conferences in the PHP community, there was a strong vibe of getting together with old friends, making some news ones, and enjoying tasty beverages together while we learn cool things. There were a number of great sessions ranging from Sara Golemon talking about PHP
- [Mothers Make Natural Project Managers](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/mothers-make-natural-project-managers): I'm a momma's boy. I call my Mom every week just to hear her voice, get her views on important decisions, and ask her for $20 for gas. We don't talk long. We have mutual hang-up pact after five minutes. Click we're done. Those five minutes are important to me. My Dad was the undisputed
- [Working for a Dating Website](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/working-for-a-dating-website): Over this past weekend, I came across a Wired called "Write the Perfect Email to Anyone with this Creepy Site" on using machine learning and natural language processing to analyze a person's social media profiles and offer tips on how to communicate with them effectively. Most people immediately thought about sales, but one thread of the conversation
- [If you're not Paying for the Product...](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/if-youre-not-paying-for-the-product): We've heard that adage in reference to using Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of others for quite a few years. While it absolutely does apply for general web users, in the API space, it takes on a more sinister tone. When you're working with an API, it's usually because it makes a piece of your
- [The Future of Transportation.. today.](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/future-transportation-today): I’ve been thinking about what Google looks like in five years. At a macro level, they have detailed information on every event, flight, hotel, and traffic, what could they do? Or at a micro level, they have the same information on more and more people plus detailed geo-data with our personal trackers.. er.. phones, what
- [Making User Agents Useful](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/making-user-agents-useful): How many Java developers use our API? Has anyone upgraded to our latest Ruby Gem? Is going to that PHP conference going to be useful?
- [Twas the Night Before Demo](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/twas-the-night-before-demo): This is an ancient post (2007!) from a long-defunct startup where I led the dev team. Since it's about that time of year, I thought I would share here. I wrote the second stanza. Twas the night before demo and all through the chat the devs were heads-down churning code as they sat. The profiles
- [My Reading List (2015)](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/my-reading-list-2015): After college, I resolved to read one book a month. It can be fiction, non-fiction, technical, business-oriented, or whatever as the goal was to always be absorbing and digesting new ideas and information, even just for fun. At Clarify.io, we have a bi-weekly bookclub based on the same idea. If I've missed a good one I should read,
- [Mayor Steve Adler is Scamming the Austin Tech Community](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/mayor-steve-adler-scamming-austin-tech-community): As one of the founders & organizers of ATX Hack for Change, I'm sorry to say: I have resigned my role in ATX Hack for Change and will not be attending. More importantly, you should not attend either. When we started ATX Hack for Change as part of the National Day of Civic Hacking, we started with
- [Tech IPOs - An Inside Out View](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/tech-ipos-inside-view): Disclosure: I am a shareholder of both Twilio and Okta and currently employed by Okta. Nothing here reflects the internals of either company, forward looking statements, or guidance related to either. If you’re looking for financial or investment advice, talk to your financial advisor or accountant. Don’t go it alone or blindly follow internet advice.
- [My Reading List (2017)](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/reading-list-2017): After college, I resolved to read one book a month. It can be fiction, non-fiction, technical, business-oriented, or whatever as the goal was to always be absorbing and digesting new ideas and information, even just for fun. This year I flew over 100k miles and combined with reading for a few minutes before bed each night, I got
- [Does Anyone Even Care?](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/anyone-even-care): Recently I had a meeting with an entrepreneur just getting his product off the ground. He has a functional app, a small but active user base, and has been pitching potential customers. He's talking with his active users regularly and soliciting feedback. By all accounts, he's doing the right things and moving in the right
- [My Reading List (2018)](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/my-reading-list-2018): After college, I resolved to read one book a month. It can be fiction, non-fiction, technical, business-oriented, or whatever as the goal was to always be absorbing and digesting new ideas and information, even just for fun. More recently, I've generally tried to read 3 per month which works great with a Kindle and a ton of
- [On Job Titles at Startups](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/on-job-titles-at-startups): I've worked for organizations of every size, from being employee #1 to starting at #25 to a massive US federal department. Further, I'd advised companies starting from a single founder to a couple hundred employees. From being on every side of that, one of the things I'm most sensitive to is job title but probably
- [Hashing vs Encoding vs Encrypting vs Signing](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/hashing-vs-encoding-vs-encrypting): On the surface, everyone knows the difference between hashing, encoding, and encrypting. We all know the tradeoffs between them and when to use each.. or do we? Whether I'm working with more junior developers, people experimenting with vibe coding, or even people who should know better, I've noticed that too many people mix them up
- [That Conference Panel on Entrepreneurship](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/that-conference-panel-on-entrepreneurship): Late last summer, I participated in a panel discussion at my favorite conference of the year: That Conference. Wait, which conference? That Conference! Now that we have that out of the way, let's dig in.. You can catch the full video here but first some background. If you listen closely, you'll realize that we have
- [Let's be honest. Startups suck.](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/lets-be-honest-startups-suck): Every day, you put yourself and your ideas out there and get shot down. If you're bad at it, you get shot down again and again until you finally give up. If you're good at it, you get shot down again and again until you get to something that works. Fundamentally, they're not that different.
- [O Come, All Ye Startups](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/o-come-all-ye-startups): A long time ago, I wrote tech parodies of Christmas songs and poems. While it started with The Night Before Demo, it continued with The Night before Christmas, and Working in a Startup Wonderland. This year, I bring you a darker take on venture capital. If you're not familiar with the tune, start this video
- [When is Enough Enough?](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/when-is-enough-enough): I share this post from my friend and former boss, Paul Murphy. Paul is unique in that he's "American" in the legal sense but has spent most of his life not in the States. That includes working, raising kids, starting businesses, and just generally living. I share this post as a followup to my "The
- [Website Or Shopify?](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/website-or-shopify): In my “Startups Suck" post, I alluded to the excitement of being ready to sell. You finally come up with a product that sparks people’s interest and, all of a sudden, you start thinking it’s time to do business. It's undeniably a thrilling moment, but it's also important at this pint to be able to decide
- [The Secret of Developer Pricing](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-secret-of-developer-pricing): Every startup goes through the debate of "How should we do developer pricing?" The conversation normally goes something like this: Person A: We need to come up a package that developers will buy!Person B: Okay, what if we took the free version and added A, B, and C?Person C: But developers don't buy things!Person A:
- [API Adoption: The Dangerous Delay](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/api-adoption-the-dangerous-delay): Launching an API is the easiest thing you'll ever do. On the minimum end, you can put a framework in front of your database and call it done. If you add annotations to your source code, you can even auto-generate documentation. If you want to get fancy, you can use OpenAPI to auto-generate SDKs and
- [The Draw of Marvel Movies or Why DC Movies Suck](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/the-draw-of-marvel-movies-or-why-dc-movies-suck): I've enjoyed comic books since I was a little kid. I grew up on Super Friends, and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and Adam West's Batman. A few years later, I moved to the big screen adaptations of Batman, Spider-Man, and numerous others. The stories of epic adventure, the triumph of good over evil, and
- [How Unprofitable Companies IPO](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/how-unprofitable-companies-ipo): Disclaimer: In this post, I describe business models of tech companies where I hold positions. Don't use this to draw conclusions about any specific company or rationalize any particular investment. Follow your own investment strategy, not some knucklehead with a blog. In the last few years, we've seen a variety of major tech companies go
- [Operation Buy It Now](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/buy-practical-api-design-now): My first book - "A Practical Approach to API Design" - shipped this past Friday. As a result, I’m activating Operation Buy It Now today. To sweeten the deal, if you order it by 11:59pm ET on Sunday the 23rd, you will be entered into a random drawing for four hours of API consulting. All
- [Keith Caseys New Book Covers API Development](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/keith-caseys-new-book): Keith Caseys new book 'A Practical Approach To API Development' is the topic with Phillip Crum. For more information contact Keith at 408-660-3819.
- [How ChatGPT will solve all API problems.. except yours](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/how-chatgpt-will-solve-all-api-problems-except-yours): This blog post is part of the APIFutures coordinated by Matthew Reinbold where he recruited some of the best and brightest for their perspectives on APIs in 2024. Hit the end of this article for links to a few other participants and the full list. For the last year, I've enjoyed using ChatGPT and its
- [What 4chan is up to since Charlie Kirk was murdered](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/what-4chan-is-up-to-since-charlie-kirk-was-murdered): Disclosure: I'm not involved in 4chan in any way but I have deep fear appreciation for the weaponized autists. What they do and how they do it is mind blowing. I'm not watching so I don't know specifics here but Godspeed, autists. On the flip side, I appreciated how Charlie Kirk would sit down, debate
- [Developers are Solving The Wrong Problem](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/developers-are-solving-the-wrong-problem): Everyone is either offended or excited about "vibe coding." It's all the rage and going to solve all your problems, or it's the next great evil spewing crap code all over your systems. Those of us who love well structured clean code which is modular and concise seem to be a dying breed. For someone
- [12 days of ngrok](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/12-days-of-ngrok): I originally wrote and published this via the ngrok X account back in 2022. I'm posting it here so it doesn't get lost and forgotten. On the 12th day of building my ngrok gave to me:12 events eventing11 backends scaling10 circuit breakers9 hooks requesting8 teams a-building7 certs securing6 calls replaying 5 secure routes 4 calling
- [How SaaS Startups Can Scale Accounting Without Slowing Development](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/how-saas-startups-can-scale-accounting-without-slowing-development): SaaS startups live and die by their ability to iterate. Every feature launch, bug fix, or product tweak hinges on fast, focused development. But as revenue grows and operations get more complex, accounting starts creeping into the picture—dragging along requirements, processes, and red tape that don’t exactly scream "agile." So how can young software companies
- [My Startup is Broken](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/my-startup-is-broken): Whenever I advise (or join!) a startup, one of the first conversations goes something like this: "Oh man. Everything here is broken! It sucks! There's so much to do and not enough people to do it. We're missing so many things, we don't know where to start! The product needs so much work. Marketing needs
- [API Design Smells](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/api-design-smells): In software development, a "Design Smell" is a signal that something isn't quite right. Think of it like your car sounding a little bit different or your Spidey Sense tingling. In the best of times, you can immediately point at the problem and know how to fix it. But the rest of the time, it
- [So you want to build an App..](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/so-you-want-to-build-an-app): I'm contacted a few times a month by people who want to build (usually mobile) apps. Or more properly, want someone to build apps for them. While I don't begrudge or criticize their hopes or goals, we need to look at things critically and honestly. Also, I'm tired of telling people the same thing over and
- [My Favorite Books from 2025](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/my-favorite-books-from-2025): After college, I resolved to read one book a month. It can be fiction, non-fiction, technical, business-oriented, or whatever as the goal was to always be absorbing and digesting new ideas and information, even just for fun. For 2025, I had a more specific goal of 24 fiction and 12 non-fiction books and the year was crazy.
- [O-1s, H-1Bs, and other ways US Immigration is Broken](https://caseysoftware.com/blog/o-1s-h-1bs-and-other-ways-us-immigration-is-broken): With the big ongoing debate on immigration, it's been amazing/horrifying watching people muddle everyone together into one bucket and then act like they're all the same. For sanity's sake, let's split immigration into four buckets: The first are the absolute top tier people. These are the ones redefining their industries, creating patents in their spare

## Pages

- [About Keith "Danger" Casey](https://caseysoftware.com/about-me): Short Biography Keith "Danger" Casey walks the line between Product Management and Product Marketing making sure teams understand customers' problems, solve them effectively, and can sell them at scale. He's done this serving on the Product Team at Pangea launching AuthN and AuthZ products, ngrok launching GTM, Okta working on Identity APIs, as an early
- [Contact Me](https://caseysoftware.com/contact-me): To be clear, I'm always open to chatting over job opportunities. Even if I'm not looking, I often know great people who are (and not always publicly). Even while I have a full time job, I occasionally do side projects involving API design, developer evangelism strategy & training, product/market fit, and overall product planning. I
- [Current Conference Presentations](https://caseysoftware.com/current-conference-presentations): Unless noted, these are all 45-50 minute presentations ideal for conferences, meetup groups, or company lunch & learn sessions. If you're interested in one of these, contact me! You can also find my courses on LinkedIn Learning! 12 Reasons Your API Sucks Those first moments of using an API are pivotal. There’s nothing like downloading
- [Tech Events Network](https://caseysoftware.com/tech-events-network): If you've found this page, you're one of a handful of people I've briefed on the Tech Events Network (or TEN). At it's core, the TEN is how you learn what is going on in your community. Obviously, it's not just any event but technology events as in things that are appropriate for developers, designers, people

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