Michael Cabassol

Point of view

Writing

Essays are how I think. Systems are what I was accountable for. I don’t mix them.

I take the project the process can’t start
A project that is taking too long is short of a start, not of engineers
Essay · Sep 2026

I don’t know if the air cover was real
Cover is local: a direct leader's willingness backed one level up, not an executive's presence
Essay · Sep 2026

I gate on what a test suite can check
The line for an autonomous system is verifiability, not consequence
Essay · Sep 2026

My eval is the health check
The eval that gates my deploys doubles as the health check, real dependencies included
Essay · Sep 2026

Autonomy expands with instrumentation, not capability
Why the most autonomous system I run got there through telemetry, lineage, and gates, not smarter models
Essay · Aug 2026

A hundred people asking, is it your problem?
One pane of glass and a drill to the cause, in place of the hundred-person bridge call
Essay · Aug 2026

I don’t hire on certifications
Why the résumé I read is the systems catalog, not the badge list
Essay · Aug 2026

The load balancer runs my test suite
An integration test baked into a health endpoint, because coverage can't see the seams between services
Essay · Aug 2026

Start

Tell me what’s actually happening. I’ll say if I’ve written about it.

Tell me what’s stuck

I’ll tell you in about a day whether I’m the right person. The first conversation is fit, not a free architecture review.