I'm not a big believer in euphemisms, nor in burying the lead^[1], so let me begin by saying that I no longer work at awe.sm on a day-to-day basis. The parting, while solely my idea, was completely amicable, and I remain attached to the company as an advisor, occasionally weighing in on architectural issues. This was not a sudden decision, or a quick exit: over the last six months I slowly transitioned my responsibilities to the other members of the team, and then stepped away entirely on a trial basis to make sure things could run smoothly in my absence. As of two weeks ago, we made that permanent. For all intents and purposes, I am a free agent for the first time in more than a decade.

After taking some time off, including a pretty awesome road trip, I started work on a pair of related ideas for software that will make web development easier, faster and higher-quality. The opportunity to work on them uninterrupted was a big part of my motivation for leaving awe.sm, and I'll be blogging a lot more about the state of web development and the tools themselves once they are a little further along in development.

As for awe.sm in my absence, I have nothing but positive expectations. As I noted last year, everybody who works there is smarter than I am. Fred and Jonathan have the right strategy, and Bennett may not tweet much, but he's one of the best engineers I've ever worked with, so I'm happy to leave the engineering team in his hands.

A quick PWBFAQ: (Probably Will Be Frequently Asked Questions)

Does this mean you're doing a new startup?

It's not clear yet whether the ideas I'm working on will be useful, or monetizable, but I'm certainly not ruling out the possibility. I'm not in "stealth mode", I'm just coding some stuff, and will be talking about it more soon.

Does this mean you're looking for a job?

Not right now. If you are looking for somebody to consult with you, especially about building or scaling a web application, I may be available, and you should email me. But for the immediate future I want to concentrate the majority of my time on my own projects.

Sure, but I'm a recruiter for this AWESOME funded startup in Palo Alto and we should really talk.

I am definitely not interested in full-time employment anywhere. Recruiters who call referring to this blog post should be prepared to explain why they ignored this part.

Why does your blog look so broken?

It's been a bit neglected recently. I intend to fix that.

[1] Or the lede, if you're a journalist. Please don't email me about spelling.