Disclaimer: This is unlike any of my previous articles and is a commentary/observation of certain cultural and mythological traditions and practices and My attempt to uncover the root elements of these traditions to a possible Historical event(s)”. The intention is not to hurt any sentiments. But if it does, maybe one of us needs to …
Sometimes, It seems like most people have added “Remote Work” to a long list of taboo topics that no one should discuss at work. Topics like Religion, Politics, Sexual Orientation, Medical Issues, etc. Most people know that remote work is a horrible idea for organisations of any size, but they are afraid to call it …
If you’re a software engineer, manager or leader, I am sure you have heard the term ‘10x developer’ used in discussions. It refers to developers who are purportedly 10 times more productive, or capable, than their peers, while it is a hotly contested category. Some refer to it very liberally, others deny that it even …
Not sure how to categorise this post, it’s an amalgamation of a critique of the social stratification that we witness today with a fair amount of my experiences interspaced and viewed through the lenses of a book, Pedigree. I have always held that Pedigree and education from Elite Institutions are a bit overrated and are …
Background: I work with multiple CTOs and Heads of Engineering of early-stage startups to help them set up their engineering orgs, review their product architecture, help them prioritise their hiring etc. I also help multiple engineering leaders via Plato. Recently, there have been too many questions on whether can I use ChatGPT for this or …
Some say that NoOps is the end of DevOps. Is that really true? If you need to answer this question, you must first understand NoOps better. Things are moving at warp speed in the field of software development. You can subscribe to almost anything “as a service” be it storage, network, computing, or security. Cloud …
Disclaimer: I have immense regard for Elon Musk, so much so, I have gifted Ashlee Vance’s book on the Paypal Mafia boss to multiple people. I have even compared him to the fictional Peter Weyland in my discussions with fellow nerds. But this article is not about the trailblazing leader who sows the seeds of …
The fact that you clicked on this article tells me that you are leading/heading a Team, group or an entire Engineering function and most likely a fast-paced startup. Assume the following, It was a regular weekday, and your CEO/CTO asked the most intriguing question. Do we measure Engineering Productivity? How do we fare? What can …
The main idea here is about not being willing to settle for less. I realise the market is tough right now, and maybe you’ll need to make compromises. But do you want to start at the wrong end of the pool? When you go out the door with a generic description, you preemptively give up the battle. If you need to settle — fine! — but know exactly what points you’re compromising on.
This post is a summary of a series of “Mentoring” and “Advisory” calls I did with some early stage startups, over the past 6 months. Most of the time, one of the founder ideates, one builds/leads the build. But, they want to go fast and think they need a Product Manager. Unfortunately, most of them …
