In my previous post, I argued that UIs are becoming optional: that MCP turns your AI assistant into an IDE where every product is just a plugin. But that post still assumed you’re sitting at a keyboard, typing prompts into a chat window. Take the keyboard away. Now what? Voice changes the equation entirely. MCP […]
For decades, the way we interact with software has followed the same pattern: someone builds an interface, and we learn to use it. We click buttons, navigate menus, fill out forms. Every new tool means a new UI to master, a new set of conventions to internalize, a new cognitive load to carry. That era […]
There’s a category of product emerging that I think deserves its own label: the AI-native product. Not “AI-enhanced” — a product that bolts on a chatbot or sprinkles some ML recommendations on top. Not “AI-powered” — a product whose core engine is a model. I mean something different: a product that was designed from the […]
The “buy vs build” debate is as old as the software industry itself. For decades, the default answer for most teams has been “buy”, and for good reason. Building software is expensive, slow, and unpredictable. Off-the-shelf solutions, while imperfect, get you to market faster and let you focus on your core business. But something has […]
There’s a tension at the heart of building products with AI that nobody talks about enough: AI is fundamentally about sharing and connecting data, but some of the best products are built on the principle of not sharing data. Calendrz, the calendar mirroring tool I’ve been building, is one of those products. Its core promise […]
Last week I sat down to write a content marketing plan for Calendrz. Seven blog posts, each targeting a different audience segment, each with a matching LinkedIn teaser. The kind of work that would normally take me a solid two or three days of writing, editing, second-guessing, and procrastinating. It took about forty minutes. And […]
I spent 3 years building Calendrz as a side project. Then I orchestrated AI coding agents for one week and shipped more than the entire 3 years combined — a Chrome Extension, MCP server, Stripe billing, custom CRM, infrastructure agents, and a full marketing refresh. Here’s what happened and why the combination of engineering knowledge, product sense, and agent orchestration is the new superpower.
Peter Drucker coined the phrase “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing“. While this quote is about management vs leadership, it can be easily translated into engineering especially nowadays to separate 10X’ers from the rest. Remember when you spent three weeks refactoring that authentication system to use the “proper” design patterns, […]
I’ve been invited recently to a roundtable discussion with other engineering leaders in Austin (big thanks to Jordan Kelly for organizing this!) where we discussed how is AI affecting the engineering teams — from the structure, to the way they operate, to morale and so on. One emerging theme throughout these conversations was the level […]
As AI continues to permeate every facet of software engineering, leaders are increasingly confronted with a pivotal decision: Should we build our own AI tools or buy existing solutions? This isn’t just a technical choice; it’s a strategic one that can significantly impact our teams, products, and bottom line. With the upcoming CTO ATX meetup […]
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