Mohammad Shaker

I build x3, read x2, design x1. I cherish the old (Montaigne) & dislike imposters.

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

Don’t Take Anything for Granted.

One of the good things that I learned early in management of engineering functions is this: never force a ready-made template that worked elsewhere onto a new team or function.

Yes, we should start from principles, but not from fixed practices.

Each company, product, priority, and team—along with the team’s skills and purpose—differs.

If all these vary, how can the same rule suit every company?

No single process fits every engineering team—whether Kanban, Scrum, waterfall, one-week sprints, two-week sprints, or project milestones.

We learned to walk by falling many times. Bottom-Up, Never Top-Down.

The soundest principle I found to work every time is to start small. Plan for the short term first, a 1 week amount of work, then proceed.

This rule is constant: start small, start local.

From there, change in cycles: spot a problem, propose a solution, implement, review, and begin a new cycle (call it a sprint, week, or epic—it must end so you can reassess).

This is bottom-up action. In each cycle the team discovers what works. Not the EM, the director, or the CTO, but the team itself. It adapts locally and iterates.

Thus everyone helps decide what each next cycle should be, which practices to adopt, and which to discard.

With enough cycles, teams discover the few processes that matter. Control only the essential variables; ignore the rest.

Keep policies to a minimum. Too many feel robotic and dictatorial. Preserve an open-market style of work.

Start small. And keep an open mind with min # of policies.

Hire mediocre people and you need to force a way. The principles above won’t hold.

Hire great people and let them find their way. The principles above hold.

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

(De)invest for the long term.

In the engineering context, most advice around the topic of what to build/not to build comes from the following:

Invest for the long term.

Which is absolutely true. The problem though is that most [non product] engineers would view this as a license to invest in nearly everything —since everything is needed in the long term.

Another approach to counter this way of thinking seems to be:

Deinvest for the long term.

Which means asking the question:

What are things that we should ditch? What is NOT worthy in the long term?

This means that we must not do anything that’s not tied to a company’s core value proposition in the long term.

Example: Building our own logging system? This is a solved problem — absolutely not a core value prop in the long term for most startups or companies. That means we must not do our own but buy or use a 3rd party solution.

A simple question that you can apply anywhere.

(Relates to @nntaleb Talebs’s Via Negativa)

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

On ChatGPT's expert problem.

I was talking with my friend @MehdiZonjy about the following, and I thought it was worth sharing.

(Side note so I'm not misunderstood. I don't want people reading this to get it backwards. I love LLMs and I love using them. Most of my work is LLMs-powered these days. I would be stupid if I stop using LLMs. I love using Cursor and it writes most of my code these days. What I'm saying is that you need to be strong (expert in the domain) to be able to proof-read and approve what LLMs generate. Otherwise, you need to be cautious and ask LLMs to follow fallibilism, ala Popper.)

ChatGPT’s ability to generate responses across a vast range of topics is both a strength and a limitation.

It’s not a sniper—precise and targeted—it’s a shotgun: broad and often generic.

And that’s a problem.

Take its confidence in incorrect answers. Right now, ChatGPT is like a junior developer who never says: “I don’t know.” Or “I am not sure the solution I am providing is robust enough.”

It will give you an answer with confidence—whether or not it should, and whether or not the answer is correct.

This is extremely risky for new engineers entering the field, who often copy and paste solutions without fully understanding what’s inside. For production work this is not valid unless you're an expert in the domain, proof-reading and approving what LLMs generates.

That said, ChatGPT is still incredibly useful—if you treat it like a junior team member who needs review, context, and guardrails.

As a senior engineer, you still have to guide it: nudge it toward specific design patterns, ensure it uses OOP when appropriate, or point out that a Lambda function has memory and execution limits, making its proposed solution invalid.

In Product Management, ChatGPT is good at surface-level tasks: generating user stories, drafting PRDs, summarizing customer interviews. That’s helpful, and in many ways mirrors a Junior PM—someone learning the ropes and able to produce artifacts quickly with the right direction.

But it can’t replace the judgment of a Senior PM—the person making trade-offs between business value and technical complexity, who knows when to ship a rough cut versus when to polish.

For example, if you ask ChatGPT how to prioritize features, it might suggest RICE or MoSCoW. But it won’t challenge the underlying assumptions.

That’s a bummer. It won’t ask things like: Are we even building the right product? What’s the risk of not shipping this?

It can’t sense the tension between short-term growth and long-term strategy.

That requires context, lived experience, political awareness, and an instinct for timing—things machines don’t yet have.

The danger is when people start treating ChatGPT like a senior.

When it comes to deep expertise, a human—a senior—is still necessary.

That will change. And I hope it does.

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

Writing this reminds me of when I started working on my own two startups seven years ago.

I struggled to handover or delegate any work. I wanted everything done to my standards—my quality, my ethics. In my mind, I was the best at what I did—“no one does it like I do.”

I think many capable engineers go through this. We start with zero trust in others. Slowly, we learn to trust people to do their jobs as well as we do—sometimes even better.

It’s a mindset shift—realizing that others bring different approaches and that we can actually learn from them. But the truth is, exceptional engineers are rare. The more we demand excellence from ourselves and others, the harder it becomes to trust that anyone else will meet that standard.

Trust isn’t given—it’s earned. No one deserves a free pass because of their title or past experience.

Trust is earned,
every time,
from scratch,
in every new venture we create or join.

Salam, peace.

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

On Self Worth.

Waiting for outside approval is one of the worst thing we can tie ourselves into. We are weak if we want/strive/look-for outside validation, approval or appraisals.

If we do not have the self-worth from the inside, no outside validation or praise will suffice. If we simply follow the herd in “Fake it till you make it”, we are simply cheating ourselves.

“Don’t fool yourself and you’re the easiest man to fool.”

We are the ones who decides our self worth. We should be the ones who self-question, self-criticize (Popper), self-validate, and self-improve.

Most people tie in the idea of effort to the idea of self worth, praise or validation. In the [imaginary] realm of schools and universities, if we study well, we’ll pass. We’ll succeed. We’ll praised. In the real world, and in business, if we work hard, if we spend a lot, we may not succeed.

But that should not undermine our self worth.

Success or failure is not what determines our self worth. We do. Trying, doing, acting, tinkering is honorable.

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

One of the best thing that I’ve ever did in all startups I worked on/founded is never to allow for any Quality Assurance (QA) or SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) team to exist.

My take on testing, SDETs and "It’s-not-my-problem" Problem on a 2-min read.

https://t.co/Cw2Bgaum3Z

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

بعض الأشياء التي تعلمتها في عام 2024

1. يجب أن أكون منخرطًا في فعل الأشياء الصعبة لفترة طويلة. يجب أن أيوم بشيء صعب كل يوم. ويجب أن أيوم بالأمور الصعبة في الصباح كأول شيء في اليوم.

2. كن معروفًا بإنجاز الأشياء الصعبة. اكتب عنها واطلب دحضها (قابلية التفنيد Fallibilism عند بوبر Karl Popper).

3. عليَّ أن أركز على شيء واحد في المرة الواحدة، ثم انطلق فيه بكامل طاقتي. يجب على أن أيوم بذلك يوميًا لمدة لا تقل عن 4 ساعات. سيكون عندها اليوم يوم منتج.

4. يجب أن أشق طريقي بنفسي دائمًا. لا أعتمد على أحد. أكون مكتفيًا ذاتيًا طوال الوقت.

5. هل أنا أكثر حرية أم أقل بمرور الوقت؟ يجب أن أكون دائمًا أكثر حرية مع الوقت، وأمتلك مصيري بالكامل.

6. التلمذة: يجب أن أضع نفسي دائمًا في أماكن أتعلم فيها من أشخاص أفضل مني بكثير. يجب أن أكون حيث يكون المحترفون Be where the pros are.

7. يمكن أن أكون عنيدًا بقدر ما أريد، ولكن يجب أن أمارس النقد الذاتي والتأمل. ابحث دائمًا عن الحقيقة (وفقًا لقابلية التفنيد عند بوبر وفهم طالب لاحتمالية P مقابل العائد E).

8. يجب أن أكون راسخًا في آرائي، مع وجهات نظر قوية مدعومة بعمل دؤوب، ولكن يجب أن أحمل هذه الآراء بدون تعصب لها أو انحياز. يجب أن أعرف متى يكون رأيي خاطئاً، (Fallibilism again, ala Karl Popper). معظم الناس لديهم آراء ضعيفة التأسيس وخاطئة ولكنهم يتمسكون بها بشدة. فكك هذه العقلية عند أي شخص يمارسها. اطلب ذلك من الآخرين، خاصة في مجال العمل.

9. يجب أن أراقب نفسي من منظور الشخص الثالث، يجب أن أتأمل، واعتذر عندما يكون ذلك مطلوبًا. “لا تخدع نفسك، فأنت أسهل شخص يمكن أن تخدعه.”

10. أنا سيد ذهني. يجب أن أفعل ما أعتقد أنه صحيح. خططت لأن أجري ماراثونًا في عام 2024 بينما كنت لا أجري أي كيلومتر في يناير ولدي مشكلة في الركبة. كنت أعلم أنني لا أستطيع ولا ينبغي لي القيام بذلك. قال لي الأطباء ألا أركض. لكنني ركضت 17 كم في نوفمبر. لم أكن لأتخيل القيام بذلك في يناير مع حالتي تلك.

11. يجب ألا أضيع وقتي على الأمور التافهة والصغيرة. أتجنب السلبيات، فتتطور الإيجابيات من تلقاء نفسها (Via Negativa). إذا تخلّيت عن وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي وهاتفي، أجد نفسي أقرأ أكثر تلقائياً، وأجري محادثات أعمق وأطول مع الناس، وأستمتع بالعشاء مع العائلة، إلخ.

12. الإنتاج > الاستهلاك. يجب أن أتذكر هذا دائمًا. القراءة المفرطة دون تأمل أو تطبيق تؤدي إلى ضمور الدماغ. فكر، تأمل، تطلع إلى المستقبل، احلم بشكل كبير ثم "افعل". لا تقتصر على جانب دون الآخر.

13. لا تحاول استخراج كل نقطة إنتاجية من كل شيء. هناك أشياء يجب أن تظل غير منتجة ويجب ألا تكون فعالة (مثل الوقت مع العائلة، العطلات، إلخ).

14. انتبه لدوافع الناس Incentives. الأطباء يصفون لنا الدواء حتى بدون حاجتنا إليه.

15. قلل المخاطر من الجوانب السلبية Limit the downside: معرفة ما يجب تجنبه لا يقل أهمية عن معرفة ما يجب السعي إليه (اقرأ لنسيم طالب).

16. زد المخاطر عندما تكون العوائد غير محدودة: تحدث الأشياء الجيدة عندما أبقي ذهني منفتحًا وحُرًا. “يجب أن تكون حذرًا جدًا إذا كنت لا تعرف إلى أين أنت ذاهب، لأنك قد لا تصل إلى هناك.” — Yogi Berra.

17. اتبع مبدأ ليندي Lindy: الأشياء التي أثبتت كفاءتها تصمد مع الزمن. هذه هي الكلاسيكيات Classics (مثل أعمال توما الأكويني Aquinas، ماركس، راسل Russell، بوبر Popper، غاليليو، داروين، مونتين Montaigne، إلخ).

18. يجب أن أتابع القراءة والمفرفة في مجالات متعددة ولكن على أن أتعمق في بعضها. يجب أن أكون موسوعيًا Encyclopedic. يجب أن أتعلم واقرأ من مجالات متجاورة في نفس الوقت. اقرأ العديد منها معًا. قراءة راسل، بوبر، هايك Hayek، طالب Nassim Taleb (للمرة الخامسة)، وفيتغنشتاين Wittgenstein في نفس الوقت غيرت تفكيري فعليًا.

19. أيام الإجازة الحقيقية (بدون هاتف أو إشعارات، فقط قلم وورقة) كل 2-3 أشهر تغير منظوري بالكامل.

20. يمكنني القراءة أثناء المشي. (لا أستمتع كثيرًا بـ Audible لأنه لا يسمح لي بوضع ملاحظات. استبدلته بميزة Spoken Content على الآيفون لقراءة كتب iBooks بصوت عالٍ).

21. الحركة تخلق المشاعر Action create emotion> هذا صحيح تمامًا. أشعر بالروعة بعد كل مرة أركض بها. إذا كنت محبطًا أو عالقًا، أتحرك، وسأشعر بالتحسن. الإبداع يزدهر أثناء الحركة. أفضل الحلول التقنية أو المنتجية جاءتني بعد مشي لمدة 20+ دقيقة.

22. قضاء الوقت مع العائلة والأصدقاء المقربين نعمة حقيقية.

23. التفكير بعقلية العولمة Globalism وبالطريقة التي يفكر بها أغلب الناس غالباً ما تكون خاطئة ٩٩٪. معظم الناس يُصاغون ويدمغون وفقًا لهذه العقلية. يجب أن أقاوم هذا دائمًا.

السلام.

البوست الأصلي بالأنجليزية هنا:
https://t.co/rtsCfh3Voq

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

Reflection is one of the best tools that taught me to stay still, think and write.

Here are 23 Things I Learned in 2024:

1. Be involved in doing hard stuff, grand stuff, for an extended period of time. Do a hard thing every day. Do the hard things first thing in the morning. I feel good every day I do that.

2. Be known for doing hard things. Write about them and chase invalidation (Popper’s fallibilism).

3. Focus on one thing at a time, then go full throttle on that one thing. Do this daily for at least 4 hours.

4. I should always mark my own path. Don’t rely on anyone. Be self-sufficient all the time.

5. Am I less or more libre? I should always be more free with time, a libre. I should always own my own destiny.

6. Apprenticeship: Always put myself in places where I can learn from a group of people way better than myself. Be where the Pros are.

7. Be stubborn as much as I like, but self-critique and self-reflect. I should always look for truth (with Popperian fallibilism and Talebian @nntaleb P (Probability) vs. E (Payoff) understanding. More on this in another post).

8. Be strongly founded, with strong views backed by strong diligent work that are weakly held. I can be proven wrong. Most people have weakly founded, wrong views that are strongly held. Debunk anyone doing this. Demand that from others, especially in business.

9. Observe myself from a third-person POV, reflect, and say sorry when I should. “Don’t fool yourself, and you’re the easiest man to fool.”

10. I’m the master of my mind. Do what I think is right. I planned to run a marathon in 2024 when I was running 0 KM in January with a problematic knee. I knew I couldn’t and shouldn’t do it. Doctors told me not to run. I ran 17 km in November. I could never have imagined doing this in January with the knee I had.

11. Don’t waste my time on tatters and the small stuff. Avoid the negatives, and the positives grow by themselves (via-negativa). If I ditch social media and my phone, I naturally read more, have deeper and longer conversations with people, and enjoy dinner with family, etc.

12. Produce > Consume. Keep this in mind all the time. Excessive reading without reflection and action causes atrophy in the brain. Think, retrospect, future-gaze, dream big, and then act. Don’t do one side without the other.

13. Don’t try to milk every inch of everything. Some things should and must NOT be efficient (e.g., time with family, holidays, etc.).

14. Mind the incentives of people. Doctors give us medicine even if we are well without it. That’s what they are paid to do.

15. Minimize risk for downsides: Knowing what I should avoid is as important as knowing what I should chase (NNT).

16. Maximize risk for unbounded upsides: Know that good things happen when I keep my mind open and free. “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going because you might not get there.” — Yogi Berra.

17. Follow the Lindy: Things that have proven their fitness. In books, these are the classics (e.g., works of Aquinas, Marx, Russell, Popper, Galileo, Darwin, Imam Ali, Montaigne, etc.).

18. Go wide with specific deeps (T or V Shape). Read from multiple disciplines but go deep in some. Be encyclopedic. Learn and read from adjacent domains at the same time. And read multiple of them together. Reading Russell, Popper, Hayek, Taleb (for a 5th time), and Wittgenstein at the same time actually changed my mind.

19. Days for time off (really off—without a phone or notifications, just a pen and paper) every 2-3 months actually change my perspective.

20. I can actually read while I walk. (I don’t enjoy Audible that much since I can’t highlight. I replaced that with the Spoken Content feature on iPhone to read any iBook for me.)

21. Motion creates emotions. That’s absolutely true. I feel amazing after every run (-1 run in 2024). If I’m blocked or down, I move, and I’ll feel good. Creativity spurs in motion. My best technical or product solutions came after a 20+ min walk.

22. Spending time with loved family and close friends is a bliss.

23. Globalism as a way of thinking is for the average. Most people are being molded in a global way of thinking. This is a rut I should always fight.

Salam, peace.

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

@EdwardTufte @nntaleb I should read a timeless everyday.

Salam, peace.

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

This is for Love of Old Books.

For me, and in no particular order, nor exhaustive, these books are:

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

@EdwardTufte @nntaleb They both taught me on being righteous, to always look for truth, to think for myself, to be unwavering on what I stand for.
- It would be ..

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

A fascinating visual guide to the various gaits utilized by canines when moving at different speeds

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

Thoughts of the week. Week 42: A Prayer, by definition.
https://t.co/3FPKAuP4Em

[Mohammad Shaker @GTRShaker]

A trail run. No two steps are the same.

Remembered @nntaleb post from few years back.