Writing

Building trust in public, one page at a time.

As a founder, you sell yourself before you sell your product — and in B2B, no one buys without trust. This is where I write in public: a daily story from twenty years of building, and a book on what engineering leadership looks like now that AI has changed the job. New entries publish regularly.

365 Days of StoriesThe book
365 Days of Stories

One story a day, from twenty years of building.

Day 58 of an ongoing series

As a founder, you sell yourself before you sell your product — and in B2B, no one buys without trust. So I'm sharing one story a day from my career and entrepreneurship: leaving IBM, chasing a traffic-congestion startup, relearning to code from scratch, and the turnarounds in between. Honest, in public, one day at a time.

All 58 stories so far
+Days 01–10
Day 01365 Days of Stories – Day 1: The Moment I Knew I Had to Leave IBMDay 02365 Days of Stories – Day 2: How I Decided to Solve Traffic CongestionDay 03365 Days of Stories – Day 3: Cracking the Code for CarpoolingDay 04365 Days of Stories – Day 4: The Shift from Tech to Business & The Search for a CTODay 05365 Days of Stories – Day 5: The “Company” That Didn’t ExistDay 06365 Days of Stories - Day 6: Relearning to Code – Starting from ScratchDay 07365 Days of Stories – Day 7: From Learning to Building – The Start of Product DevelopmentDay 08365 Days of Stories – Day 8: The Evolution of Ride Matching – From Basic Geometry to Real-World RoadsDay 09365 Days of Stories – Day 9: The Evolution of Ride Matching – Handling GPS Precision & Spherical GeometryDay 10365 Days of Stories – Day 10: Cracking the Ride Search Algorithm - Matching Ride Requests to Rides
+Days 11–20
Day 11365 Days of Stories – Day 11: Cracking the Ride Request Search Algorithm – Finding Requests for a RideDay 12365 Days of Stories – Day 12: The Coding Marathon & The Harsh Reality of EntrepreneurshipDay 13365 Days of Stories – Day 13: Turning Around a High-Stakes Automation ProjectDay 14365 Days of Stories – Day 14: Turning Performance Challenges into a Competitive AdvantageDay 15365 Days of Stories – Day 15: When Tough Decisions Had to Be MadeDay 16365 Days of Stories – Day 16: Restructuring Teams & Aligning Priorities in a CrisisDay 17365 Days of Stories – Day 17: When Customer Leader Priorities Clash with CEO DirectivesDay 18365 Days of Stories – Day 18: Navigating Conflicts – First the Customer, Now the ArchitectsDay 19365 Days of Stories – Day 19: Navigating Internal Resistance & Earning CEO’s SupportDay 20365 Days of Stories – Day 20: Fighting for Organization Goal & Navigating Internal Conflicts
+Days 21–30
Day 21365 Days of Stories – Day 21: Leadership Conflicts & The Hardest Decision I Had to MakeDay 22365 Days of Stories - Day 22: Another Turnaround Story – A New Product, High Stakes, and a Failing SystemDay 23365 Days of Stories - Day 23: Tackling Major Issues – Customer Demands & Focused PrioritiesDay 24365 Days of Stories - Day 24: Team Ramp-Up Strategy – Hiring Fresh Talent QuicklyDay 25365 Days of Stories - Day 25: Navigating Hiring Challenges & Building a Strong TeamDay 26🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 26 - Turning Around a Global Enterprise Account in 2 MonthsDay 27🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 27 - Restructuring for Success: Building the Right TeamDay 28🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 28 - A Strong Partnership and Global ExpansionDay 29📖 365 Days of Stories: Day 29: 🚀 My First Entrepreneurial Journey—Left Incomplete, But Revived After 2 Years!Day 30🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 30 - When I Took My Startup to the Streets—Literally!
+Days 31–40
Day 31🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 31 - A Bold Pivot to Fix My Startup’s Core Problem!Day 32🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 32 - I Changed My Business Model, But the Problem Wasn’t Solved! Still a Long Way to Go!Day 33🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 33 🌟 Chasing a Dream, One Apartment at a TimeDay 34🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 34 🌟 When Numbers Speak Louder Than DreamsDay 35🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 35 – Should You Leave a Job Without Clarity on What's Next?Day 36🎯 365 Days of Stories: Day 36 – The Wrong Co-Founder Can Slow You DownDay 37🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 37 – A Co-Founder Must Share Your HungerDay 38🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 38 – The Best Cofounder Might Be the One Who Says NoDay 39🚦 365 Days of Stories: Day 39 - Don’t Just Pick a Big Problem — Pick the Right ProblemDay 40🚜 365 Days of Stories: Day 40 - If You’re Not Deeply Committed to the Problem, You’ll Quit Midway
+Days 41–50
Day 41🚀 365 Days of Stories: Day 41 - 🧠 Lesson: Not Every Exciting Idea is a Scalable BusinessDay 42🚨 365 Days of Stories: Day 42 - You Might Be Solving the Right Problem — But Selling It the Wrong WayDay 43🚨 365 Days of Stories: Day 43 – Sales Is Hard. Really Hard.Day 44🚨 365 Days of Stories: Day 44 – The Quiet Struggle of Job Hunting in Tech LeadershipDay 45🚨 365 Days of Stories: Day 45 — The Weight of TitlesDay 46💭 365 Days of Stories: Day 46 — The Loneliest Journey: Why Entrepreneurship Is Harder Than You ThinkDay 47💭 365 Days of Story: Day 47 — Are You a Job Person or a Business Person?Day 48💭 365 Days of Stories – Day 48 - Are We Chasing Fulfillment or Just Fulfilling Responsibilities?Day 49365 Days of Stories – Day 49: “This is not our service, sir.”Day 50365 Days of Stories – Day 50 — This Isn’t Just a Building. It’s Our Grandparents’ House
+Days 51–58
Day 51365 Days of Stories – Day 51: No One Led. Everyone Owned.Day 52365 Days of Stories – Day 52: Moonlighting — Survival or Betrayal?Day 53365 Days of Stories – Day 53: The Invisible Math of EntrepreneurshipDay 54365 Days of Stories – Day 54: I couldn’t even get someone to talk to me. That was the real pain.Day 55💔 365 Days of Stories – Day 55: To Every Senior Developer Worried About Job Safety in the Age of AIDay 56365 Days of Stories – Day 56: I Didn’t Write Code — But I Built More (with Claude Code)Day 57🚀 Day 57 of 365 Days of stories – Building in 18 Days What Normally Takes 3–6 MonthsDay 58The Brutal Truth About AI-Human Development: From Honeymoon to Hell to Partnership - Day 58 of 365 Days of stories

New stories publish regularly — check back for the next entry in the series.

Written in public · The book

When Code Is No Longer the Bottleneck

Building future-ready engineering organizations in the AI era. For the first time in the history of software, the activity that consumed most engineering effort — writing code — is no longer the primary bottleneck. So what does a future-ready engineering organization actually look like?

Written chapter by chapter, in public, from twenty years of engineering leadership.

A book by Partha Sarthi
When Code Is No Longer the Bottleneck
Future-ready engineering organizations in the AI era
20 of 32 chapters published
Full table of contents
PrefaceWhy This Book
+Part 1 — Where We Are (Reality, Not Ideals)
Ch. 01The Two Engineering Organizations Most of Us Actually Work InCh. 02Why These Models Worked for a Long TimeCh. 03The Invisible Cost of Modern Engineering
+Part 2 — What Actually Changed (Not the Hype)
Ch. 04When Writing Code Stops Being the Center of GravityCh. 05How AI Quietly Breaks Existing AssumptionsCh. 06Why Old SDLC Thinking Starts Lying to You
+Part 3 — The New Engineer
Ch. 07When AI Becomes the Junior EngineerCh. 08What Happens to Junior Engineers Now?Ch. 09Thinking, Judgment, and Trade-offs in an AI WorldCh. 10What Skills Actually Compound Over Time
+Part 4 — The New Engineering Team
Ch. 11Why Role Fragmentation Breaks in the AI EraCh. 12The AI-Native Product Engineering TeamCh. 13Platform, Reliability, and Security as Enablement
+Part 5 — The New SDLC (How Work Really Flows)
Ch. 14SDLC When AI Is Always in the LoopCh. 15Quality Is Not a Phase, Role, or GateCh. 16Code Review Without Code OwnershipCh. 17Pair Programming in an AI WorldCh. 18CI/CD and Production Validation in the AI EraCh. 19What Metrics Actually Matter in the AI Era
+Part 6 — Leadership Transformation
Ch. 20Why Control-Based Engineering Management Failscoming soon
Ch. 21The Engineering Manager's Role in the AI Eracoming soon
Ch. 22Leading Multiple Teams Without Becoming the Bottleneckcoming soon
Ch. 23Decision-Making as the New Bottleneckcoming soon
+Part 7 — Transitioning Without Burning the Organization Down
Ch. 24Why You Can't Transform Overnightcoming soon
Ch. 25Evolving Existing Teams (Not Replacing Them)coming soon
Ch. 26Hiring for Judgment, Not Keywordscoming soon
Ch. 27Growing Engineers in an AI Worldcoming soon
Ch. 28Working Within Organizational Constraintscoming soon
+Part 8 — The Future (Practical, Not Sci-Fi)
Ch. 29Where AI Replaces Work vs Amplifies Workcoming soon
Ch. 30What Will Not Change (This Is Crucial)coming soon
Ch. 31The Kinds of Engineers Who Will Wincoming soon
Ch. 32What a Future-Ready Engineering Organization Looks Likecoming soon

20 of 32 chapters written so far. New chapters publish regularly as full pages.