---

Summary

In this episode, Andy talks with Wharton economist Judd Kessler, author of Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want. If you have ever looked at someone else's career success and thought, "They just got lucky," this conversation will give you a new lens. Judd introduces the idea of "hidden markets," the informal rules and systems that shape who gets opportunities, access, and scarce resources, even when money is not changing hands.

They explore how leaders can evaluate allocation rules using Judd's three Es (equitable, efficient, and easy), why first come, first served "races" often reward availability more than merit, and how waiting lists can quietly shift costs onto the people least able to pay them. You will also hear Judd's "settle for silver" strategy, a practical way to make smarter choices in competitive markets, plus a thoughtful parenting angle on teaching kids to notice rules and incentives early.

If you're looking for a fresh, research-backed perspective on how hidden rules shape who gets opportunities at work and in life, this episode is for you!

Sound Bites

• "The goal of the book is to get people to start to recognizing these markets all around us."
• "In most of these markets, they play by a simple rule that we all understand, which is if you're willing to pay for the thing, then you get it."
• "Is the way that we're deciding who gets what... is it equitable? Is it efficient? And is it easy for market participants?"
• "I open my calendar and I see all these recurring meetings on my calendar, recurring meetings that were set up years or months ago. That's first in time, first in right."
• "If you understand the rules and develop strategies to get what you want from the market, then you actually can be one of the handful that actually gets the thing, that desirable outcome, and then it will look like you got lucky."
• "It's always going to be the folks who are in the market winning who are always going to think that it's fair."
• "Once you start thinking like, how am I actually allocating these things? That's when you've put on that market designer hat."
• "They'll come to you kind of with half-baked ideas because they know if they wait later on until they can fully bake the idea that the resources or the fun parts of the project might already be gone."
• "Part of what the Settle for Silver / Go for Gold Strategy is forcing you to do, is to think seriously about what you want and why you want it."
• "You, as a parent, you are designing the markets that your kids play in all the time."
• "We're not breaking the rules, but we are figuring out what they are so that we can put ourselves in a good position, and that's going to serve you well."
• "Maybe by being in the office, you are signaling your dedication to the firm that you're available for all of these opportunities."
• "If it's something that anybody can do, like send a quick email, right? That's, it's not actually costly. Anybody could send that email even if they're not truly dedicated and eager for the opportunity."
• "You cannot get all three E's for sure in any allocation mechanism. There's always going to be tradeoffs."

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:41 Start of Interview
• 01:49 Growing Up and Thinking About Luck
• 03:00 Introducing Hidden Markets
• 07:10 The Three E's: Equitable, Efficient, and Easy
• 08:08 Live Event Tickets as a Case Study
• 12:50 High Frequency Trading and Hidden Races
• 15:21 Common Misunderstandings of the Three E's
• 17:04 Races Inside Organizations and Project Teams
• 20:25 Proximity, Signaling, and Opportunity at Work
• 23:03 Are We Selecting for the Right Behavior?
• 25:41 Stepping Back to Evaluate Your Own Systems
• 25:52 Colorado River Water Rights and Recurring Meetings
• 29:09 The Settle for Silver Strategy
• 30:57 The French Laundry Reservation Story
• 32:51 Settle for Silver in College Admissions
• 37:22 Helping Kids Recognize Rules and Incentives
• 41:03 End of Interview
• 41:32 Andy Comments After the Interview
• 44:34 Outtakes

Learn More

You can learn more about Judd and his work at JuddBKessler.com/book.

For more learning on this topic, check out:

• Episode 265, a short video episode Andy put together about the topic of luck. Check it out!
• Episode 339 with Katy Milkman. Katy is the person who gave Andy the heads-up about Judd's book. In episode 339, they talk about her book How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. It's a great discussion with another researcher who knows how to make the learning practical for all of us.
• Episode 372 with Annie Duke. Annie is a former world champion poker player who is a big fan of Judd's book. How does a poker player think about luck? Check out episode 372 to find out!

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Just go to 5BestResources.PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com to grab your copy. I'd love to help you get your PMP this year!

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Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

Talent Triangle: Power Skills

Topics: Luck, Hidden Markets, Behavioral Economics, Leadership, Decision Making, Resource Allocation, Organizational Design, Career Strategy, Signaling, Systems Thinking, Equity, Project Management

The following music was used for this episode:

Music: Echo by Alexander Nakarada
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Music: Fashion Corporate by Frank Schroeter
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Download audio: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/peopleandprojectspodcast/499-JuddKessler.mp3?dest-id=107017

You love building web apps with Python, and HTMX got you excited about the hypermedia approach -- let the server drive the HTML, skip the JavaScript build step, keep things simple. But then you hit that last 10%: You need Alpine.js for interactivity, your state gets out of sync, and suddenly you're juggling two unrelated libraries that weren't designed to work together.

What if there was a single 11-kilobyte framework that gave you everything HTMX and Alpine do, and more, with real-time updates, multiplayer collaboration out of the box, and performance so fast you're actually bottlenecked by the monitor's refresh rate? That's Datastar.

On this episode, I sit down with its creator Delaney Gillilan, core maintainer Ben Croker, and Datastar convert Chris May to explore how this backend-driven, server-sent-events-first framework is changing the way full-stack developers think about the modern web.

Episode sponsors

Sentry Error Monitoring, Code talkpython26
Command Book
Talk Python Courses

Links from the show

Download audio: https://talkpython.fm/episodes/download/537/datastar-modern-web-dev-simplified.mp3

For most of my career, I’ve been a proud Windows developer.

I build Windows apps. I run Windows as my primary dev machine. It’s been home.

But recently? That’s been challenged — not by another OS, but by AI.

Developer workflow is changing fast. Agents, containers, automation — they’re reshaping how we build software. So let’s rewind a little, talk about why Windows, and then look at what’s shifting under our feet.

---

Why Windows?

There are really two answers.

1️⃣ The Tools — Visual Studio

For years, Visual Studio was untouchable.

While others were sprinkling Console.WriteLine or scanning logs, Windows developers had:

• Step-through debugging
• Deep variable inspection (even the gnarly ones)
• Conditional breakpoints
• Edit-and-Continue (Hot Reload)
• Integrated build, test, and profiling

It wasn’t just an editor — it was a command center.

And honestly? It still is when I need serious debugging power.

---

2️⃣ The Stack — XAML and Beyond

The second reason: the Windows UI stack.

Since the early days of WPF and Silverlight, I’ve loved XAML. Declarative UI. Clean separation. Powerful binding.

As the platform evolved — WPF → Win8 → UWP → WinUI — XAML stayed central.

Now with the Uno Platform, that same XAML lets me target:

• Windows (WinUI & Desktop)
• macOS
• Linux
• Android
• iOS
• Web (WASM)

One UI definition. Everywhere.

Pair that with MVVM and you get a clean, structured architecture. Add MVUX from Uno and you get a reactive, modern state management model.

It’s simple. Powerful. Productive.

---

So What Changed?

For the first time in my career…

I’m not building for WinUI first.

That used to be my workflow:

1. Build and debug on WinUI
2. Then test on other Uno targets

But when Uno recommended the Skia backend, things shifted.

Now I default to the Desktop target (Windows, macOS, Linux). Why?

• Faster build and launch
• Clearer XAML errors
• Better day-to-day debugging flow

Ironically, building for Windows became less about WinUI itself.

And that shift matters — because an even bigger shift was coming.

---

Enter AI Agents + App MCP

This is where things really changed.

With AI agents — whether it’s Claude, Copilot, or Codex — and the Uno Platform App MCP:

An agent can:

• Build the app
• Run it
• Take screenshots
• Verify changes
• Repeat across Desktop, Web, and Mobile

I can now assign an entire issue to an agent.

It will:

1. Plan the solution
2. Implement it
3. Run the app
4. Validate the outcome

Across multiple platforms.

That’s not autocomplete.

That’s delegation.

---

Containers, YOLO Mode, and Dev Isolation

The next evolution?

Running agents in YOLO mode inside a dev container.

I’m using:

• A Linux container
• Running on WSL
• Connected via VS Code

The dev container stays locked down:

• Limited GitHub access
• Controlled environment
• Isolation from the host

I can still launch desktop and web targets for debugging — but the agent operates in a contained sandbox.

It’s structured chaos.

---

Where That Leaves Me

So here I am.

Still using Windows.
Still building for Windows.
But not the way I used to.

Visual Studio is now my “serious debugging” tool.

Day-to-day development?
Often handled by an AI agent — inside a container — through whatever console I happen to be using.

That’s a massive shift.

---

The Bigger Picture

AI isn’t just speeding up development.

It’s redefining the workflow.

Agents. Sub-agents. Teams of agents.
Parallelizing feature work.
Burning down backlogs.
Testing across platforms automatically.

The tooling and models are evolving monthly.

Six months from now? The workflow may look completely different again.

One thing is clear:

Being a developer today isn’t just about writing code.

It’s about orchestrating intelligence.

The post I used to be a Windows Developer….. and I still am (sort of) appeared first on Nick's .NET Travels.

Interesting Engineering reports: A newly uncovered flaw in Discord’s age verification rollout has added fresh pressure to the company’s 2026 compliance plans. Security researchers recently found that frontend components tied to identity vendor Persona were accessible on the open web, prompting debate over how securely the platform handles sensitive age checks. The discovery surfaced on...

Source

After releasing AI Context Kit, I learned about two emerging standards that are becoming essential for durable AI collaboration: AGENTS.md for project operation and Agent Skills for workflow authority. In this post, I explain why I transitioned to these standards, how I executed the migration using the Codex macOS App, and what the new architecture looks like.