Look Upstream - December 13th, 2025

Stop fighting today’s fire—use upstream thinking to eliminate the problem entirely by asking: “What would need to be true for us to not have this problem at all?” With practical examples (like never running out of gas) this post shows how to prevent recurring problem patterns and even whole families of failures before they happen. For software engineers and engineering leaders, it argues that problem prevention + systems design + AI-assisted brainstorming (ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini) is the most valuable, most “LLM-proof” way to level up your impact.