Sahil Parikh
Thoughts about business, tech and life.
Latest posts
Deep Work, AI and Software Dev
I love diving deep into work and really thinking things through. I wish I could do more of that! As Carl Newport puts it, in our super-distracted world, these are our real strengths. Deep work helped me bring Maestro into our development process. — put phone away — First, I asked Claude to teach me about Maestro. I asked as if I was genuinely interested, wanting to learn and make this a part of…
Apple & AI
I’m a big fan of Apple (AAPL). I really enjoy their products and use almost everything they offer. It’s great that they control both the software and the hardware. There’s a special way they make you feel when you’re using their products — like that smooth, buttery feel when you switch apps, scroll and long press. Contrary to what people/industry might say, I don’t think Apple is losing its edge.…
10X Advantage for Developers
The Solopreneur Revolution Is Here - Interview with Ben Cera, founder of Polsia
AI-crafted Emails
These days, I’m quite bothered by these pristine, well-written, bulleted AI emails from people I know or work with. They read exceptionally well, but I can’t help but wonder if the person who wrote them truly understands each point they’ve presented - or did they just offload the thinking to Ai. Especially, if its a debate of sorts, I am not sure whose point of view this is! Sometimes, when I meet…
I'm OK being left behind, thanks!
How do you open a mac terminal from a VS Code terminal?
Depending on the project I like having a few terminals outside of my IDE. open -a Terminal .
JavaScript Ecosystem
I’ve been experimenting with building a full-stack web app and integrating OpenAI’s API to summarise a list of reviews that are stored in the database. My experience has been incredibly rewarding. This time, I’m fully committed to Node.js, utilising React, Express, Bun, Prisma (for ORM), MySQL, Vite, Prettier, Husky, Tailwind CSS, Shadcn/UI, and more. Setting up these tools and getting my hands on…
Unreasonable Hospitality
I am currently reading this fantastic book which can be applied to any industry and to life. What struck me as powerful is this line: "People will forget what you do; they'll forget what you said. But they'll never forget how you made them feel." This can be applied in life as well. Your family and friends will remember how you made them feel for a looong time rather than what you said. Aren't…
Pavements
Mumbai lacks open spaces, good pavements, and sidewalks. Even the ones that exist are encroached upon by hawkers. It’s disheartening that we don’t have the infrastructure to simply leave our homes, walk, grab a coffee, and return. That’s why, whenever I travel abroad, the first thing that catches my eye (and gives me a high) is the pavements. It’s a pleasure to walk all day exploring a new city on…
WhatsApp Hack - What to do?
This week, someone I knew had their WhatsApp hacked and couldn’t access their account for a significant part of the day. Attempting to re-register with the six-digit code also failed because the hacker had exhausted the daily re-registration limit by repeatedly attempting the process. As a precaution, WhatsApp had temporarily blocked further attempts and wouldn’t issue any OTPs for that number…
Developer Replacement Hype Cycle
Nice article on The Recurring Cycle of 'Developer Replacement' Hype - every decade or so we will have new technology that will promise to make developers obsolete. The most valuable skill in software isn't writing code, it's architecting systems. This is so true. I have worked with developers who write code but cannot look at systems and how everything will eventually connect. Stepping out of code…
Building or Buying Software
Software is never done. We wish it was, but there are always more things to add or something to update, whether it is a security patch, server update, or upgrading the framework it’s built on. I read an interesting quote today on Reddit regarding build vs. buy - "buy for parity, build for competitive advantage". And on the flip side, “it’s really hard to build and maintain competitive advantage…
Writing
I have shared a fantastic piece on Writing and AI last year. Reflecting on this topic again, I just wrapped up writing several emails, Slack messages, Linear updates, and Gen-AI prompts for a Laravel-based simulator I’m working on. It’s clear how much inefficiency arises when people struggle to articulate their technical issues. This often leads to unnecessary loops involving more people and more…
Source Code
An engaging and insightful read about Bill Gates' formative years and the origins of Microsoft. The book vividly explores his childhood, family life, education, and countless coding sessions. I've admired Bill Gates since 1995, when I picked up his "Overdrive" book at Heathrow on my way to the US for my undergraduate studies. Source Code was a delightful journey into the life of a curious,…
Less is More.
why are we so inclined to add things rather than take them away when searching for solutions? ... The fact is, people are biased towards solving problems through addition rather than subtraction. ... Because adding something makes you feel like you are advancing, while taking something away makes you feel like you are retreating. Excellent article on taking something away to find solutions to…
AI Prompting
I've been using ChatGPT 4.0 extensively in my work, and it has been a game-changer. By crafting prompts, refining them, adding details, and iterating, I consistently achieve the results I need. This experience has led me to advocate for AI adoption within my development team. If AI can help them become more productive and eliminate repetitive tasks like writing boilerplate code, why not embrace…
Writing = Thinking
In The Ken's First Principle's newsletter, they discussed a very interesting thought --- Is writing, thinking? “Higher confidence in GenAI’s ability to perform a task is related to less critical thinking effort. When using GenAI tools, the effort invested in critical thinking shifts from information gathering to information verification; from problem-solving to AI response integration; and from…
Four Thousand Weeks
For me, this book was like Carl Newports Slow Productivity meets Eckhardt Tolle’s Power of Now. My views and a couple of changes I have incorporated follow this summary, themes and takeaways from ChatGPT (it does an amazing job of summarising) and I am going to use this post as a notes of sort for myself to come back to. ChatGPT Summary Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver…
30 Minutes Plank
A month ago, my yoga instructor set me a simple yet powerful challenge: to hold a 1-minute plank every day for 30 days. She explained that by the end of the month, I’d have accumulated 30 minutes of planking—quite an achievement! Motivated, I took on the challenge, set up a habit tracker on my phone, and committed to incorporating this small action into my daily routine. As the 30 days came to an…
Self-discovery via ChatGPT
Someone put this question about up on X so I thought why not try it. The answer is pretty accurate although I knew this about myself but its good to know that ChatGPT thinks the same. We are on the same wavelength :) ME > From all our interactions what is the one thing that you can tell me about myself that I may not know about myself. ChatGPT > One thing that stands out from our interactions is…
Optimizing Keyboard Shortcuts
I recently listened to an interesting “Be the Tortoise” episode of The Laracasts Snippet podcast, where Jeffrey Way discusses how developers often spend a lot of time fine-tuning their workflow, obsessing over keyboard shortcuts, and perfecting their setup. I definitely relate. Whether it’s VSCode or my email app, Superhuman, I love working without touching the mouse — processing emails and…
Software Teams & AI
Over the last year I have been in conversations with non-tech people and their views on how Gen AI is going to make developers obsolete and that we should speed up our software development process 2x now that ChatGPT is helping write the code for us. I didn't know how to respond. Until I came across this article - Generative AI is not going to build your engineering team for you A few snippets but…
Learning vs. Edutainment
Learning is what turns information consumption into long-lasting knowledge. The two things are different: while information is ephemeral, true knowledge is foundational. If knowledge were a person, information would be its picture. The fact of the matter is that digital products make it uniquely easy to trick yourself into thinking that you’re learning when you are actually being entertained. How…
Tsundoku
I love visiting bookstores and I am guilty of buying more books that I can read. Until I came across... The Japanese call this practice tsundoku, and it may provide lasting benefits These shelves of unexplored ideas propel us to continue reading, continue learning, and never be comfortable that we know enough. Jessica Stillman calls this realization intellectual humility. I have changed my…
For What It’ll Make Of You
Bookmark this artcile and read it many times - For what it'll make of you Loved the part about setting ambitious goals vs. delusional goals. But in both cases, the racing and the speaking, I intuitively knew that it wasn't just about the destination. If it was, there'd probably be many shortcuts I could have taken. But I wanted to take the long road. For what it would make of me. It was not about…
Constants
Fantastic article -> Learn Things That Don't Change Lindy’s Law applied to technology says that the longer a technology has been around, the longer it’s expected to be around. And then I came across this article - The 2034 Website What I take away from both the above articles is that in software development using old, boring technology is OK. Use what you think has stood the test of time. Those…
Software Experience
Data visualization software, like Dark Sky (the popular weather app that Apple acquired last year and subsequently discontinued), goes beyond simply displaying data in attractive graphs. The software seamlessly integrate into people's daily lives. That is what makes an amazing software experience. This thought has been aptly put in this article that I came across today - A Eulogy for Dark Sky, a…
Daily Standups
Good daily standup video links to improve the way your software team works :)
Patek Ad
I've recently begun reading The Economist weekly, and an ad in it really caught my attention. I had just finished Cal Newport's book, Slow Productivity , and this ad perfectly encapsulated the key points from his book: do less, find your own pace, and obsess over quality.
Emotional Health
Must watch! Can't stress how important practising emotional hygiene is to having a better quality of life. This topic should be nurtured in all schools across the world - building emotional resilience is as important (if not more) as fitness, career and family.
6 luxuries in life
On point. Print this, pin it up and read it daily. time health a quiet mind slow mornings ability to travel a house full of love by https://www.instagram.com/jadebonacolta/
Maccy
Enjoying using Maccy for Mac . Recently I had about 48 files to update with code and then had to change something unique in each of them. Maccy keyboard shortcuts to the rescue! Shift + command + c brought up all my copy history, selected the one I needed and control + enter pasted it back in the code. Nifty tool.
Depth Of Understanding
How does one differentiate between a software developer with decades of experience and a new developer who is just awesome at coding? Something I came across in Shane Parrish's book Clear Thinking - "the cultivation of depth of understanding through years of experience, experimentation and reflection." When a problem arises, the software developer with decades of experience will diagnose it…
Writing & AI
Fantastic piece on why we should write on our own. Writing about something teaches you about what you know, what you don’t know, and how to think. Writing about something is one of the best ways to learn about it. Writing is not just a vehicle to share ideas with others but also a way to understand them better yourself. The Surprising Reason Writing Remains Essential in an AI-Driven World
Mechanical Watch Servicing
This is 8 mins of pure awesomeness - a beautiful and detailed video on servicing a small machine! I was doing some research on watch servicing and this was one of the best videos I came across. It's like you perform an open heart surgery on the watch, clean it up and put it back so as to breath life back into the watch. VIDEO: How To Service The 234-Component Caliber 1861 Inside The Omega…
Devin & AI
Remember, "Productivity booster, not a job stealer."
Same as Ever (in Software)
While software development is constantly evolving (just look at the Javascript ecosystem!!!) there are some fundamental aspects of software that tend to remain constant (and evergreen) over time. It really doesn't matter what you use to build your software/ website etc. as long as the following hold true. People using your software will ALWAYS want your software to be: FAST RELIABLE SECURE USABLE…
Same as Ever
Fantastic book on what will always remain the same - Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life. Learning about what remains the same is so much more wiser than trying to predict the future. Some really good gems in this book by Morgan! Enjoy the read.
2024
A friend of mine shared the YearCompass a couple of days back and spending a few hours thinking about 2023 (where I came from) and 2024 (where I am going) was an absolute joy on a Sunday afternoon. This was a refreshing excersize than just jotting down the resolutions for the coming year. Being grateful for all the achievements of 2023 (small wins) is the fuel to do even better in 2024.…
Elon Musk
In a more conflicted way, he also wrestles with the core question about Musk: whether his bad behavior can be separated from the all-in drive that made him successful. "I've come to put him in the same category as Steve Jobs, which is that some people are just assholes, but they accomplish so much that I just have to sit back and say, 'That seems to be a package." Does that, I ask, excuse Musk's…
Money, Frugality, Independence, Respect & Admiration.
I loved Morgan Housel's The Psychology of Money and I love reading his articles on money and everything around it. Two articles I thoroughy enjoyed reading this week were: Frugal vs. Independent Most people are wired to seek status and success, not necessarily happiness. It’s remarkable to watch someone fight back against that trend. From the outside they appear frugal. But in fact they’ve…
TypeScript Origins
I love watching tech documentaries on how languages/ frameworks evolved, the journey and the minds behind them. This is another piece of awesomeness. Who would have thought that Microsoft was going to go all-in on opensource and create TypeScript. I am currently working on moving an entire React Native project to TypeScript and I can see the benefits of using TypeScript as the team grows - few…
Capacity
Manage Your Capacity, Not Your Time is a really good read by James Steiner. ... it’s not the quantity of time that you are able to juggle, assign and manage that matters, it’s the quality of the time that you are able to spend on your tasks. Sometimes, I spend only a couple of hours in a deep flow state (this is called my capacity which is a function of my energy levels) and that is satisfying at…
OpenAI DevDay 2023
Lots of interesting things. Good bye AI wrapper companies! There will be 2 events I will now look forward to every year - Apple and OpenAI.
Getting Rich
A phenomenal post by Morgan Housel - A Few Laws of Getting Rich Everyone talks about getting rich. But what about the downsides of wealth? No one is going to remember you in 100 years. So you might as well focus on what’s going to make you happy now, instead of what money might buy you in the future. There is a Scottish proverb: Be happy while you are living, for you are a long time dead. This…
Rails World 2023
Since 2007, I have enjoyed watching DHH talk about business and software. I don't use Rails but this keynote is worth the hour! A breath of fresh air.
Stage Manager. Yuck.
I love the Kindle. It does one thing and only one thing well - helps us read. There are no distractions, notifications and multiple windows. Just a perfect reading device. I think of the same way for my iPad Pro. When I want to consume information, read some articles or quickly go through my emails, I'll fire up my iPad and go through each task with a full screen. Simple, smooth and I am in the…
Supercharged Developers
"Supercharged developer" image created by ChatGPT4 + Dall E". There are going to be two kinds of developers. One, who will be scared of adapting AI thinking that it is either AI or them. Two, the ones who use AI to supercharge themselves. The latter are going to thrive. Developers who adopt AI into their workflow are going to see massive productivity gains. Moreover, companies will realize that…