Pat Kayongo

Of Price Tags, Gig Apps, and Dynamic Pricing

It is told that the modern price tag was developed in 1861 by one John Wanamaker, a merchant from Philiadephia, USA. Before this point, every transaction with every merchant one encountered was a negotiation. Someone who was wealthy would end up paying more because the merchant could size them up and charge them more. Somebody who was a skilled negotiator and had the time would pay less, because they would negotiate the price down to one they are willing to pay.

Technology & The Hollowing Middle Class

IT systems within large enterprises have done wonders to improve the efficiencies, resulting in great cost-savings, yet with unquestioned social effects.

Substack vs Africa

The writing site, Substack, has taken the world by storm. At a time when everyone thought blogging and online writing was dead, superseded by YouTube, Substack came along and solved the problems of discovery and monetisation. Their feed and recommendations have allowed many to discover interesting writers that they wouldn’t have ordinarily found out about. And their subscription model where writers can earn money from their writing through a paying audience has provided an incentive to people to write and build up their audiences. Except if they’re in Africa.

The Fruitfulness of Grunt Work

I had an interesting software development problem the other day. I was working on a NodeJS application, doing general maintenance work, which led me down an interesting rabbit hole. I could’ve used an online knowledge tool such as the various LLM-based tools available now. But the grunt of the search was much more useful.

What Are Software Developers For

At the time of writing this, the perceived potential for AI based tools for software development is at an all time high. Devin, claims to offer a “fully autonomous AI software engineer”. Other tools like Marblism have less ambitious claims but can still create a working web application that fulfils natural language requirements, giving a solid base for experienced software developers to build upon and tweak for customisations. Many developers are naturally anxious about the future of their work, wondering if they’ll still be needed in 10 years if the underlying technology is advancing at this pace.

Of Mountains and Hills

It’s hard to pinpoint where the cocktail Phakamani’s love, and fear of high places came from. The love may have come from the views he found solace in during his years of sojourn in Cape Town. From the upper campus of UCT, he would take lunch walks to Rhodes Memorial to escape what he considered to be trivial social games. After graduating, he would escape the trivial social games of his Newlands office park to take lunchtime walks through the forest up to his favourite lookout point. And the fear may have come from being found out to be doing this. The shame of being unable to integrate. And the embarrassment of being called “Mountain Boy” in hushed tones.

The vastness of the ocean

The vastness of the ocean
can't fit in my phone.
The sand through my feet
the smell of the air
the howl of the breeze
has nowhere to go.

The pages of a book
can’t fit in my phone.
The texture of the pages
the scent of the press
the uncontested immersion
has nowhere to go.

The tapestry of her stories
can’t fit in my phone.
The glow in her telling
the presence of her words
the thousand pictures I get to paint
have nowhere to go.

The pain of their suffering
can’t fit in my phone.
The distance of their eyes
the emptiness of their embrace
the felt weight of disenchantment
has nowhere to go.

The vastness of the ocean
can’t fit in my phone.
The complexities of personhood
the manifold glory of embodiment
the embrace of truly knowing
have nowhere to go.

Fourways Mall

It’s Saturday at 1:37pm. I’ve been sitting in the 2^nd floor parking trying to muster the energy to walk in there to do everything on my to-do list: buy bread rolls for the kids’ lunch, new school shoes for Khanyi, check on the price of a new iron, and maybe just maybe upgrade my phone contract.

Digital Platforms & The Proselytisation of American Civilisation

A few months ago, I was on a Microsoft Teams call. As one sometimes does to distract themselves from looking at their own face, I started clicking buttons around the Teams call window. I found an interesting one directing me to a “Speaker Coach”. Clicking on it, The AI^TM started listening to me talk during the call.

When You Die

the doctors will tell your spouse
and they’ll break down in grief
they’ll message someone they trust
who’ll rush to see them, as soon the time allows.

your workplace will send an email
and all your colleagues will be saddened
whatsapp broadcasts will flood phones
of those time allowed to occasionally see you.

your spouse will receive condolences
templated from the same google search
they’ll reply with emoji reactions
of course, as soon as time allows.

your body will be repatriated
over mountains, rivers and valleys
until it reaches its resting place
greeted by those whose time allows.

familiar mourning hymns will be sung
with harmonies upholding those
who can’t stand weighed down by grief
but were forced to, because of what time allowed.

those who’ve seen your history
and will carry on the story of those gone before
will keep statues of you in their memories
i guess, that’s why they always called it going home.