Sahil's Playbook (Page 5)

Sign in Subscribe

More issues

Rubik's Complex: Solving the Wrong Puzzle

Some developers aren't building for users. They're chasing elegance and the urge to solve problems just because they're hard, not because they matter. It's a trap that kills velocity and distracts even the smartest engineers.

The Art of Figuring It Out on the Fly

Every culture has its own word for scrappy improvisation. In Portugal it is desenrascanço, in India it is jugaad. Both capture the art of making things work when plans fall apart and resources run thin.

How to Become a UX Designer Without a Design Degree

No design degree? No problem. Here’s a real path to break into UX, build proof-of-work, and stand out - without begging for certificates or bootcamp clout.

The best product decisions are made in DMs, not standups

Most standups are rituals, not tools. I get more signal from a good DM than a 10-person update circle. If you're building fast and lean, here's why async one-liners outperform scheduled meetings almost every time.

10 Years of Engineering: The Lessons Nobody Tells You Early

Building software is not about perfect code, fancy patterns, or being the smartest person in the room. It’s judgment, simplicity, communication, and the discipline to ship even when everything feels messy. This is what I wish someone had told me at year zero.

Pulse Candy: A Disruptive Story

How a ₹1 candy turned into a ₹750 crore obsession. Pulse nailed local flavor, sparked viral buzz, and rewrote FMCG playbooks without a single celeb ad.

Why "Monolith" Became a Bad Word

Everyone fell in love with microservices, but complexity came free. Modular monoliths might just be the smarter path for most teams today. Even Amazon and Shopify circled back. Here's why that matters if you're building something new.

Why I Had to Ask a Junior Dev to Stop Using AI

AI makes you faster - unless it makes you lazy. Here’s the real story of asking a junior dev to pause ChatGPT, and what it taught me about product judgment.

Adapt or Vanish

Every product operates under pressure from competitors, platforms, users, or internal growth targets. What survives isn’t always the best. It’s what adapts the fastest.

Why Remote Work Is Not The Same

Remote work felt like a revolution in 2020. But it wasn’t a revolution. It was an emergency. And now that life is back, remote isn't the dream everyone thought it was, it’s a system out of sync with reality.