Category · 91 articles
Leadership
Your 2027 AI Plan Should Fit on One Page: Six Questions to Answer First
Most AI roadmaps are a list of projects nobody can decide on. A plan worth funding answers six linked questions on one page.
3 Nov 2026
The AI System Works. So Why Is Nobody Using It?
Your AI tool passed every test, yet people still work the old way. Adoption is a change in behaviour, and it has to be led like one.
29 Oct 2026
If AI Had Existed When Your Workflow Was Designed, Would It Look Like This?
Your team added AI to one step and the work arrives no sooner. The workflow itself is built on old constraints, and that is what needs redesigning.
27 Oct 2026
AI Transformation Is Not Digital Transformation With a New Tool
Your AI plan looks like your last digital programme: a tool, a rollout, a go-live date. What carries over, what breaks, and what to run instead.
23 Oct 2026
Your AI Pilot Saved Time. Why Didn't the Business Change?
Your AI pilot made one step faster, but the results did not move. The cause is usually the slowest step, and what you did with the time.
20 Oct 2026
A Chatbot Answers. An Agent Does the Work. Here Is the Difference
Vendors call everything an agent. Here is what each step from chatbot to agent adds, and how much supervision each one needs from you.
15 Oct 2026
Why AI Can Crack a 90-Year-Old Maths Problem and Still Get Your Invoice Wrong
AI can do brilliant work and still fail a simple task. Leaders need to separate what it can do from whether they can depend on it.
13 Oct 2026
I Use AI Every Day: Why I Built a Place to Practise the Old Problems
I use AI every day, I enjoy it, and I am not going back. What it quietly took is the part of me that produces code from an empty file: the best practices I used to apply without thinking, and the problem solving underneath them. Why the existing practice sites did not fit, and what I built instead.
20 Aug 2026
How I Find Problems Worth Solving
Staff engineers are judged on whether a problem was worth solving, not just whether they solved it. I do not find those problems by thinking hard. I collect them, let them pile up, and wait for the shape.
27 Jul 2026
Notes on Software Quality
What software quality actually is, why it gets harder as teams and products grow, and what a staff engineer can still do about it even when the org is working against them.
10 Jul 2026
I Built a Tool to Compare Senior Engineer Salaries Across 17 Cities, and I Want Your Take
I built an interactive dashboard that compares senior software engineer compensation across 17 cities through four lenses, not just headline pay. Here is what I built, how I modelled it, and the questions I would love your opinion on.
4 Jun 2026
MongoDB.local London 2025: AI, RAG, and the Future of Data
At MongoDB.local London 2025, engineers were working on agent memory, temporal RAG, and vector search in production. Here is what I took away from the day.
16 May 2026
Engineering Change Management: Kotter's 8-Step Playbook
I've used Kotter's 8-step change model more times than I can count -- for large platform rewrites, for changing release processes, and even when growing m...
23 Oct 2025
Engineering Management in a Remote-First World
Remote-first changed everything about how I lead engineering teams. Not the work itself -- the connections around the work. The hallway conversations, the...
27 Dec 2024
How Blockchain is Revolutionizing Identity and Access Management
Traditional identity systems have a fundamental problem: they're centralized. One database holds your credentials, your permissions, your personal data. W...
21 Dec 2024
The Journey of Software Engineering: From Backlog to Release
Every engineering team I've worked on follows some version of this pipeline. The names change. The tools change. The flow stays remarkably similar. Here's...
8 May 2024
The Flywheel Strategy: Engineering Your Path to Leadership
Engineering leadership isn't a destination. It's a flywheel. Each rotation builds momentum from the last. Skip a step and the wheel slows down. Do them al...
7 May 2024
Optimizing Path Management in Vite and Remix with vite.config
As projects grow, import paths become a mess. Deeply nested relative paths like ../../../components/Button slow you down and make refactoring painful.
4 May 2024
Software Engineering Job Search - Interview Process
I have been on both sides of the engineering interview process hundreds of times. Here is what actually happens at each stage -- and what nobody tells you.
3 May 2024
Unlocking the engineering jungle for designers
I gave a talk at DesignWich School called "Designers to Know Engineering World." The goal was simple: help designers understand how engineering teams work...
2 May 2024
A Step-by-Step Guide: Starting a Web Project with a Client
I have kicked off dozens of client web projects over the years. The ones that succeeded all followed roughly the same pattern. The ones that failed skippe...
13 Apr 2024
A Guide For Six Sigma DMAIC
I first encountered Six Sigma DMAIC while leading a team that kept shipping the same category of bugs. We had great engineers. We had good intentions. But...
26 Feb 2024
My Journey with SWOT Risk Analysis
SWOT analysis — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats — is one of those tools everyone learns and few people use well. I was in that camp for years.
24 Feb 2024
The Art of Critical Thinking in the Complexities of the Modern World
Most engineers think they are good at critical thinking. Most are not. They are good at problem-solving within familiar patterns. True critical thinking i...
21 Feb 2024
The Software Peter Principle: When Code Gurus Hit a Glitch:
The Peter Principle says people get promoted to their level of incompetence. In software, this plays out in a specific and predictable way.
18 Jan 2024
Tech Leadership 101: A Guide with Insights from The Manager's Path
Camille Fournier's "The Manager's Path" is one of the few books that accurately describes what becoming a tech lead actually feels like. I read it before ...
3 Jan 2024
A Comprehensive Onboarding Plan for Junior Frontend Developers
Hiring a junior developer is the easy part. Turning them into a real contributor -- that's where most teams fail.
2 Jan 2024
Getting Started with NestJS: A Framework for Opinionated Backend Development
I like NestJS because it makes decisions for you. In a world where Express gives you a blank canvas and says "good luck," NestJS gives you an architecture...
29 Dec 2023
Storybook Harmony: Effortless RemixJS Integration Unleashed
I presented at MelbJS recently, where Kevin Yank from CultureAmp talked about their Storybook setup. One concept stuck with me: Storybook Driven Developme...
28 Dec 2023
Defining Activeness: A Journey into Proactivity in Life and Work
For a long time, I thought "being active" meant going to the gym. Running. Lifting weights. Physical output.
21 Dec 2023
Greenhouse Leadership: Cultivating Success in Your Organization
Think of your team like a greenhouse. Each person is a different plant. Some need full sun. Some need shade. Plant a tropical flower in the Arctic and it ...
13 Dec 2023
The Art of Engineering Leadership: Inspiring Teams to Innovate and Excel
Leading engineers is not about being the smartest person in the room. It is about creating the conditions where smart people do their best work.
9 Dec 2023
Easy Street Ahead: Embracing Casual Plans for a Laid-Back Journey
If your plan only lives in your head, you don't have a plan. You have a vague intention.
8 Dec 2023
Be Your Own Hero: Navigating the Maze of Individuality
I spent years studying people I admired. My manager. My tech lead. Engineers I looked up to. I absorbed their habits, mimicked their communication style, ...
3 Dec 2023
Decision Dilemmas: Leadership Choices with Finesse
You don't know the answer. You're not sure which direction to go. The team is looking at you. What do you do?
2 Dec 2023
Geek to Guru: Rocking the Tech World
I started coding at 17. Over 15 years later, I've built more websites than I can remember, worked across languages, frameworks, clients, and companies. No...
1 Dec 2023
Turning the Tide: A Leader's Guide to Overcoming Workplace Negativity
Negativity spreads faster than positivity. Always has. Always will.
28 Nov 2023
Harmony in Diversity: Nurturing Unique Team Dynamics
Every person on your team is different. Different background, different working style, different communication preferences. That's not a problem to solve....
27 Nov 2023
Cracking the Code: Understanding Demand in Your Job Market and Boosting Your Career
I don't spend money on things I don't need. Nobody does — at least not intentionally. We buy things because they solve a problem we have right now.
20 Nov 2023
The Scoop on Leading: Unpacking the ABCs of Accountability and Responsibility
Accountability and responsibility get thrown around a lot in leadership conversations. Most people use them interchangeably. They're not the same thing.
20 Nov 2023
Owning Your Journey: Beyond Blame and Complaints
When confidence is low, negativity fills the gap. Blaming where you were born. Blaming your family. Blaming the economy. It's reflexive. And it's a dead end.
19 Nov 2023
Cracking the Code to Success: The Dance of Consistency and Passion in the Real World
Nothing I've built succeeded on the first attempt. Not a product. Not a habit. Not a career move. Success always started with failure, then showed up late...
18 Nov 2023
Harmonizing Growth: Crafting Effective Feedback Strategies for Team Success
Giving feedback sounds simple. It isn't.
15 Nov 2023
Exploring the Unknown: Unlocking Personal and Professional Growth
When was the last time you tried something for the first time?
14 Nov 2023
Smooth Team Transitions: A Guide for Managers
I have moved people between teams and managers more times than I can count. Some transitions went smoothly. Others blew up in ways I did not expect.
13 Nov 2023
Real Talk: Getting to the Heart of 1-1 Team Chats
Most leaders get 1-1s wrong.
12 Nov 2023
Navigating Leadership Waters: Earned Authority and Authentic Influence
Nobody follows a title. They follow a person.
10 Nov 2023
Unlocking the Potential of Leading Leaders
Leading engineers is one thing. Leading leaders is a different game entirely.
9 Nov 2023
Navigating the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Complex Challenge
This isn't a technical article. It's about something that weighs on me as a human being who grew up in the Middle East.
8 Nov 2023
Steven Bartlett's 33 Laws of Business and Life
I picked up Steven Bartlett's "The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life" because I was curious how a young founder thinks about principles dif...
7 Nov 2023
Navigating the Agile Landscape: Unpacking 'Shape Up' by Ryan Singer and Jason Fried
A friend recommended "Shape Up" by Ryan Singer and Jason Fried. He said Basecamp's development process was unlike anything else -- not Agile, not Scrum, n...
6 Nov 2023
Balancing Act: Unveiling the Key to Productivity and Well-Being
I picked up "Work Smarter, Live Better" by Joe Robinson expecting the usual work-life balance platitudes. I was wrong. This book challenged assumptions I'...
5 Nov 2023
Strategic Leadership in a Global Chess Game: Navigating Uncertainty and Shaping the Future
Peter Zeihan's "The End of the World Is Just the Beginning" changed how I think about strategic leadership. His core argument -- that the global order we ...
4 Nov 2023
Dynamic Resource Allocation: Unleashing the Power of Flexibility in Tech Companies
I've watched this happen too many times: the strongest engineer on the team spends three sprints on a routine CRUD feature while a junior struggles alone ...
3 Nov 2023
Embracing Culture over Complexity: Lessons from Tokyo's Clean Streets
Every time I see a team reach for a new tool, a new process, or a new monitoring dashboard to fix a people problem, I think about Tokyo.
1 Nov 2023
Inspiring others: A guide to leading your life with impact
You can't inspire anyone if your own life isn't worth being inspired by. That's not a motivational poster line. It's a reality I had to confront.
31 Oct 2023
Moved to Gazar.Dev
I left Medium. Built my own platform at gazar.dev. Here's why.
15 Oct 2023
Advanced Complexity of Web Engineering
I teach web engineering. JavaScript, TypeScript, the full stack. I've mentored hundreds of students through online courses and one-on-one sessions.
15 Oct 2023
My Experience with GitHub Copilot
I've been using GitHub Copilot for a while now. My honest take: it makes me a better engineer.
15 Oct 2023
Effective Leader
Nobody teaches you how to lead. You get promoted because you were good at building things, and suddenly you're responsible for people. These are the areas...
15 Oct 2023
How to use Mount Stupid Concept for Leaders — Dunning-Kruger Effect and Imposter Syndrome?
One of the most useful mental models I've found for leading people is Mount Stupid. It changed how I read confidence in others -- and in myself.
15 Oct 2023
My experience of Teaching Programming as online courses
I never planned to teach. It started as a pandemic hobby and turned into one of the most valuable things I've done for my career.
15 Oct 2023
Help newcomers with the onboarding process as a Lead/Senior Engineer
HR handles the company welcome. Forms, benefits, office tour. But once that's done, the new engineer sits down at their desk and stares at a codebase they...
15 Oct 2023
Tesseract Library and Image Processing to Detect Texts
Extracting text from images is one of those problems that sounds simple until you actually try it. Reading receipts, bills, documents -- the client upload...
15 Oct 2023
How to Stop Users to download the videos on your site
A friend asked me how to prevent users from downloading videos off his site. I gave him the honest answer first.
15 Oct 2023
Books I read 2018
I set a Goodreads challenge of 20 books that year and hit it. Most of them were about leadership, learning, and psychology — the three topics I kept gravi...
14 Oct 2023
What are leadership styles and how to find yours
I spent years leading teams without ever thinking about my leadership style. I just... led. It was not until I started reading about different approaches ...
14 Oct 2023
Develop People Through Education
The best investment I've made as a leader is in my team's education.
14 Oct 2023
Avoid Micromanaging- Give Autonomy
You've had a micromanager. I've had a micromanager. Everyone has.
14 Oct 2023
Own a project end-to-end
Taking ownership is not just doing your job. It's not completing tickets. It's not "my part is done."
14 Oct 2023
Keep stakeholders informed
When senior management gets involved, the stakes are high. You're working on something visible. Something that matters.
14 Oct 2023
Pair Programming
Pair programming gets a lot of hype. Some companies swear by it. Others think it's a waste of two engineers' time.
14 Oct 2023
Ask for help
I spent years building a reputation as the person who had answers. The engineer people came to when things broke. I wore that identity like armor.
14 Oct 2023
Self-Reflection
The best engineers I know have one thing in common. They stop and ask themselves hard questions regularly.
14 Oct 2023
Supportive Communication Strategies
The hardest conversations in leadership aren't the technical ones. They're the ones where you need to address a problem without damaging the relationship....
14 Oct 2023
Managing Conflicts
Conflict on a team isn't a bug. It's a feature -- if you handle it well. Some of the best technical decisions I've seen came from two engineers who disagr...
14 Oct 2023
What Conversation means?
Most engineers underestimate conversation as a skill. I did for years. I thought the code should speak for itself. It doesn't. Your ability to communicate...
14 Oct 2023
Ask Questions
Early in my career, I sat in meetings and stayed quiet. I had questions. Plenty of them. But I was scared that asking would expose how much I didn't know.
14 Oct 2023
Active Listening
Most leaders think they're good listeners. I did too.
14 Oct 2023
Coaching vs Counseling
Every time you sit down with someone on your team, you're doing one of two things. Either you're coaching or you're counseling. Most leaders don't know wh...
14 Oct 2023
Don't estimate for your team.
I used to look at a ticket, do the math in my head, and tell the team it would take two days. I was wrong every single time.
14 Oct 2023
Don't blame your team.
A deployment goes wrong. A feature ships with a critical bug. A deadline gets missed.
14 Oct 2023
Don't take credit for something your team did
Early in my leadership journey, I made this mistake. A project shipped well. In a stakeholder meeting, I said "I" more than "we." My team noticed. Trust t...
14 Oct 2023
Dealing With Distractions
Deep work requires protection. As a leader, one of the most important things you can do for your team — and yourself — is eliminate distractions.
14 Oct 2023
What team’s environment means?
I am not talking about trees and weather. I am talking about the environment your team works in every day. The culture, the energy, the unwritten rules.
14 Oct 2023
What communication means?
Communication is the single most underrated engineering skill. I've watched brilliant architects fail because they couldn't explain their designs to a pro...
14 Oct 2023
I immigrated to Melbourne and Medium
Immigration is hard. No way around it.
14 Oct 2023
CouchDB over MongoDB?
I went deep on CouchDB a while back. Read everything I could find. The question I kept asking: when would I choose CouchDB over MongoDB?
14 Oct 2023
My Experience with mongoDB
I fell in love with MongoDB the first time I created a record. It was absurdly simple.
13 Oct 2023
What is the WebSocket API?
HTTP is request-response. The client asks, the server answers. That works for most things. But when you need real-time, bidirectional communication -- cha...
13 Oct 2023
Hello, This is Ehsan Gazar personal site
I've been building for the web for over 15 years. In that time, I've watched countless developers launch personal sites with big ambitions -- only to aban...
10 Oct 2023