Circling Forward

When my second tour with zu became official, the first message I sent was to our CXO, Albert Jame, with the iconic first panel from Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles:

That line has always stuck with me as a simple summation of a pattern we see all the time in technology, business, and life. We often return to familiar ground—but we don’t come back empty-handed. We return with experience, context, and clarity. In a field obsessed with what’s next, it’s easy to overlook the value of what’s worked before.

I spent a decade at zu the first time around—as a developer, project manager, production manager, and eventually, technology director. Then I spent another ten years elsewhere, working in similar roles but within different constraints, with different teams, tools, and perspectives. And now I’m back with a new perspective.

This idea of returning—only with new perspectives—is something we see constantly in our industry and it shows up across technical decisions, team structures, and even the tools we choose.

Server-Side Rendering Reborn

Server-side rendering (SSR) was the default for years. It was simple, and it worked. Then came Single Page Applications (SPAs), promising speed and seamless interactivity. Websites started to feel more like apps—but also became more complex. SEO became trickier. Debugging got harder.

Now SSR is back in the conversation, with tools like HTMX, Turbo, and Alpine.js aiming to simplify things. Not because we forgot why SPAs became popular, but because we’ve learned how to apply SSR more thoughtfully. It’s not a step back—it’s a better path forward.

Streaming Rebundled

You can see the pattern in consumer experiences too. Streaming was supposed to free us from cable. No bundles, no ads, just on-demand content. But now? We’re juggling subscriptions, sitting through commercials, and hunting for where our favourite shows live.

At some point, it’s likely we’ll rediscover the simplicity of switching channels, just like in the “good old days” of cable. It’s not that streaming has failed—it’s evolving into something familiar. The cycle continues.

The Comeback of Community

Even communication platforms have come full circle. We moved from forums like phpBB and early Reddit to noisy, algorithm-driven feeds. Now we’re returning to focused communities—Slack, Discord, niche newsletters. Smaller spaces. Fewer distractions. Real conversations. The smaller the room, the easier it is to be heard.

SaaS Swings Back to Custom

SaaS is what really pushed me to write this. Before hosted platforms dominated, most organizations built their own tools. Teams worked directly with developers to create CRMs, scheduling tools, inventory systems—designed from the ground up to fit their needs.

But building and maintaining software is hard. As complexity grew, it made sense to simplify. Hosted tools promised faster setup, less maintenance, and a lower upfront cost. It worked for a while and adoption soared.

But now the costs are piling up, flexibility is shrinking, and teams are feeling boxed in. We’re seeing a renewed interest in owning and running software—whether that’s self-hosted platforms, open-source stacks, or hybrid approaches. It’s not about nostalgia. It’s about making better-informed decisions, with clearer eyes.

And so we return and begin again

It’s tempting to treat returns like failures. To feel like we’re back where we started. But a better metaphor might be an orbit—not a circle, but a spiral. We pass familiar ground, but from a new vantage point. We’ve tested ideas. We’ve seen what works, and what doesn’t.

So yes, sometimes we return to where we started but we’re not standing still. We’re going from A to B to A prime. A smarter version. One that knows where the pitfalls are and how to avoid them.

At zu, we embrace that. We don’t chase the newest thing just because it’s new. But we don’t dismiss legacy approaches either. Sometimes the best way forward is through a second look at what came before.

That’s how we grow. That’s how we build better. And when we find ourselves coming back around, we don’t see it as a reset. We see it as progress.