Danial Kalbasi

Notes on engineering leadership, building products, and figuring out what matters.

Topics

On building product

On management

Topic

On building product

A collection of 10 writings

On building product: Product validation

I've been trying different methods to validate product ideas over the years. One lesson I learned is that many methods are ways to avoid launching the product. It's a scary step for many of us building products to find out if what we built is going

On building product: Startups get more from AI than large companies

I've noticed indie hackers and startups are getting far more from AI than larger companies. Developers often point to codebase size - it's easier for an LLM to grasp 10K lines of code (LOCs) than millions. That's true to an extent, but it misses

On building product: AI and code ownership

One of the things I'm curious about is how AI will change the relationship between developers and their code. Most engineers love their code. If you want to put this to the test, just go and create a PR (pull request) on someone else's code and

On building product: Technical debt

Technical debt isn't a technical problem. It's everyone's problem. Yet there's this ongoing tension between engineers and the rest of the organization about balancing technical debt with feature delivery and speed. Most people still see it as purely an engineering concern. The

On building product: Feeling of starting a business

Starting a business is always exciting, and it sets you and your life on a rollercoaster. Sometimes it goes fine, and sometimes it miserably fails. In early 2021, I planned to start a side business, and after some ideation, I began on a project that focused on specific niches. It

Thoughts on delayed software project

How often do you see yourself in a delayed software project or a missed deadline? According to a 2017 report from the Project Management Institute (PMI), 49% of IT projects undergo uncontrolled changes and experience delays. Not to mention, 14% of them fail miserably. While I was thinking about how

Develop from scratch or using third-party software?

Building a feature from scratch or using third-party software isn’t always an easy choice, especially in Startups. It is even more challenging when you have fewer financial and staffing resources. This is when every decision is counted and affects the business as a whole. Let’s see how we

Are you making these two mistakes in your A/B testing?

A few years ago, I was working with a startup that built a platform for travelers to book hotels and create personalized itineraries. The idea was intriguing. It’s enough to tempt any engineer to work with them. As you might guess, I ended up getting a contract as a

10 tactics to create better personas

In experience design, we usually create personas for different characters that are going to be used in a new product. A persona is a representation of a user, usually created based on user research. I'm discussing 10 tactics that will help you create better personas and avoid common

Understanding mental shortcuts and how they increase user engagement

Every day, we are faced with the decision to choose between a Yes and a No. In this case, we often use our past experiences to make decisions. This tremendously decreases our cognitive load and eases the decision process. Below is an explanation of mental shortcuts, their usage in the