Alex Ponomarev (Page 7)

6 Oct 2023 · 4 min read

Using Analytics to Build a Better Product

Analytics. I used to think they were just nice-to-have stats for big tech companies. Turned out I was wrong. When I launched my first e-commerce site about 15 years ago,

5 Oct 2023 · 5 min read

Automated Testing: Your Team’s Safety Net

Jim’s heart raced as he watched the CEO’s eyes flare with frustration. Their mobile app had just frozen mid-demo in front of investors. As sweat beaded on his

4 Oct 2023 · 3 min read

Coding Rockstars vs. Team Values: Bridging the Technical Divide

I recently came across an interesting story on the web highlighting some of the common challenges teams face when bringing on new senior developers. In this case, a senior dev

3 Oct 2023 · 5 min read

From Engineer to CTO: Navigating the Rocky Road

Sam Carow’s path to becoming a CTO was anything but straightforward, according to her post on Reddit I stumbled upon. In fact, her story is marked by plenty of

2 Oct 2023 · 4 min read

Quiet Quitting: No One Wants to Work Hard for Nothing

Ben, a friend of mine, has been ‘quiet quitting’ his job for the past few months. It means he does what is required in the job description and nothing more.

1 Oct 2023 · 4 min read

Why Crunching Doesn’t Work: A CTO’s View

Years ago, when I was still new to the role of a CTO, I interviewed Sam, an experienced project manager with an impressive resume. He had overseen major initiatives at

30 Sep 2023 · 4 min read

From Scrappy to Stable: Navigating Startup Growing Pains

Many startups follow a similar narrative arc. A few friends working after hours start a company to build their app. Fueled by ramen, energy drinks, and enthusiasm, they scrape together

29 Sep 2023 · 4 min read

Curing the Disease of Underperformance in Engineering Teams

According to recent surveys, 26% of employees are considered underperformers, costing companies up to $3.4M in lost productivity per 1,000 workers. Engineering teams are not immune to this

28 Sep 2023 · 4 min read

Boost Engineering Velocity: How to Get Unstuck and Ship Faster

In the fast-paced world of software development, engineering teams face immense pressure to deliver value quickly. However, bottlenecks like misalignment, lack of visibility, and constant context switching can grind productivity

27 Sep 2023 · 5 min read

Overscheduled and Overwhelmed: My Battle Against Meeting-Mania

Meetings, meetings, meetings. As a CTO, my calendar gets jam-packed with what feels like back-to-back meetings from dawn to dusk if I’m not vigilant. Don’t get me wrong

26 Sep 2023 · 4 min read

Why Your Roadmap is Worthless Without Rigor

As CTO, I’m constantly seeking ways to improve how we build and deliver software. After a few painful release rollouts riddled with delays, defects, and cost overruns, someone suggested

25 Sep 2023 · 4 min read

Managing Opinions and Egos on Product Teams

Being a UX designer is one of the most challenging jobs ever. You spend years honing your craft, building your design sense, and working on countless projects. Then, someone with

24 Sep 2023 · 4 min read

Software Rot: When Systems Become Legacy

Recently, I became a user of Revolut, an 8-year-old digital banking and financial services company. Initially offering just money transfer and exchange services in the UK, Revolut now provides various

23 Sep 2023 · 4 min read

Forget Dashboards, Let Users Chat with Data

Chatbots may seem like just another tech buzzword, but they actually have the power to transform how businesses work with data in a big way. Instead of companies investing months

22 Sep 2023 · 4 min read

The Engineering Realities of AI Chatbot Development

Chatbots are everywhere these days. Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene last year, companies like ours have been exploring leveraging this exciting new technology. Our goal is to help businesses

21 Sep 2023 · 3 min read

Requirements Are Made to Be Broken

I was talking to a fellow software developer recently, and he was complaining about how imperfect the development process is. His main point of complaint was that he’s constantly

20 Sep 2023 · 5 min read

The Quest for the Holy Grail of Project Management Systems

It could be me, but none of the off-the-shelf project management tools work for us. They’re either overly complicated like Jira or too simplistic and lack the functionality and

19 Sep 2023 · 5 min read

Xano: Can You Really Build Real APIs With No Code?

Today, I tried Xano, a backend-as-a-service platform enabling users to build apps without writing code. With it, you can create a REST API powered by a fully-fledged database and connect