About

I'm Ben Hathaway, an engineer by trade and a builder by nature. I've spent more than 25 years building software, most of it as CTO of Mailprotector, a cybersecurity company focused on email security.

Field Notes is my external brain — one place to keep whatever I'm thinking about, whether that's software and the tech industry, building and running things, or something further afield. I tend to look at it the way an engineer looks at a system: how the parts connect, what the incentives are, and where the friction hides. Less news and hot takes, more of the mechanics underneath.

Every post is one of four types, so a one-line thought and a long essay can share the same place:

• Observations are short-form thoughts — something I noticed and wanted to write down before it slipped away.
• Artifacts are links to outside resources worth keeping, with a note on why they matter.
• Echoes are quotes worth repeating, with a source where there is one.
• Signals are long-form essays where I work an idea all the way through.

The Concepts index ties them together by the recurring ideas they share, like craft, systems, and long-term thinking.