Writing by Tabrez Alam

Thinking out loud
about things that matter.

AI, building companies, maps, people, parenting, trust, and whatever else I cannot stop thinking about. No niche. Just honest thinking.

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Pinned
🔖 empathy & values

Both of them were right. That was the whole problem.

My twin daughters were having an argument. I asked one question. The argument did not end. But something shifted. And I realised that the most dangerous thing you can be in a disagreement is completely correct.

Jun 2026 · 6 min read · Read this →

What's on my mind

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Perspective & Everyday Life
"Papa, What Grade Would Make You Happy?"

My twins are starting Grade 3 and the first thing they asked was what grade would make me happy. The question had more answers than either of us expected.

Jul 2026 · 6 min
 Technology & Society
From privacy to trust and back again. What comes next?

Yahoo Messenger gave you a username. WhatsApp gave your number to everyone. Now WhatsApp is giving you a username again. We have been here before. The question is what happens next.

Jun 2026 · 7 min
 Data & Technology
Why are maps broken in India. It is the data layer.

My 7-year-old asked why I was making fresh rice when we had leftover rice from lunch. She was not wrong. But biryani is not a leftover rice dish. And maps built from delivery GPS logs are not maps either.

Jun 2026 · 7 min

Explore by theme

Founders & Startups

What three startups and thirteen years actually taught — not the framework version, the real one.

🤝
Why Understanding Your Market 'First Hand' Is Really the Key 7 min Vision Is Where You Are Going. Values Are How You Get There Every Day. 7 min This Post Is Not About Funding Winters. 7 min The Companies That Do Not Fake It Are Losing the Race. 7 min What I Learnt Choosing a Co-Founder. Three Times. 8 min
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Culture & Leadership

What good organisations actually looked like from the inside, and what they cost when built wrong.

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Why I Value 'Trust' More Than 'Performance'? 5 min How a Truck Driver Taught Me What Corporate Trainings Could Not 5 min Three Things I Learnt About Leadership — Episode 3 6 min Three Things I Learnt About Leadership — Episode 2 5 min Three Things I Learnt About Leadership — Episode 1 4 min Culture Is What Happens When No One Is Watching. 6 min How Many Lives Did You Save Yesterday? 7 min He Had Not Used the App. He Still Knew Exactly Why It Was Failing. 6 min Your Employee Is Not Cheating. Your Leave Policy Is. 6 min We Wore Masks for Covid. We Won't Wear Helmets for the Road. 7 min "I Think You Should Buy From Our Competitor." 6 min He Knocked on Our Garage Door in 2016. Apple Put Him in Their Hall of Fame. 6 min I Do Not Remember My Last Drawn Salary. But I Remember This. 7 min
All writing →
Engineering

Things learned at the keyboard, the whiteboard, and the 2 AM debug session.

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My Wife Has Been Doing This for Years. Developers Call It Rubber Duck Debugging. 5 min The Chef's Knife Problem 7 min
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Geospatial & Mapping

What 4.5 crore kilometres of road data, HERE Maps, TomTom, and Google's pricing strategy actually taught.

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Thank God We Had Alternatives in 2018. 8 min Stock Brokers Are Now Asking Me How Maps Are Made. 8 min
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Experiential Architecture

How software should feel to use, not just what it does. The discipline most product teams have never been trained in.

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"Papa, What Grade Would Make You Happy?" 6 min From Social Distancing to Social Isolation. An Unwarranted Journey. 5 min The Uncle Remembered. He Had Not Seen Me in Six Months. 6 min The Importance of Perspective and Intelligent Analysis 5 min Physics of Infinity and Perception of Perfection 7 min The Casino Knew Something About Your Brain Long Before UPI Did. 6 min My friend talked for eleven minutes about Emirates. She did not mention the engine once. 7 min Whatever the inventor gave you, bring it in. The format is the tool's problem. 8 min
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Artificial Intelligence

How AI actually works, how to train it, how to use it without losing your judgment, and what it genuinely cannot do.

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The expert's operating layer 9 min Meet the LLM: IKIA, The Yes Man, The Eloquent, and The Curious Kid 7 min The Curious Kid Inside the Machine: How LLMs Understand Without Truly Knowing 8 min Beware the Eloquent Speaker: Why AI Can Sound Right and Still Be Wrong 8 min From Prompting the Yes Man to Engineering Reliable AI Workflows 8 min The AI-Augmented Engineer: Using the Characters Without Becoming One 8 min The Green Zone, the Yellow Zone, and the Red Zone: A Student's Reliability Map for AI 7 min The Guard Did Not Need My Photograph. The App Did. 6 min The Vintage Car in the Garden 7 min I wrote two lines. My client read two lines. ChatGPT charged us both for fifteen. 4 min This Does Not Feel Like Your Code. And That Is Okay. 6 min "Papa, Why Should We Use Google and Not Gemini?" 6 min Seems Like You Used ChatGPT to Make This 7 min
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Everything, in order

Most recent first
Jul 2026 "Papa, What Grade Would Make You Happy?" Perspective 6 min
Jun 2026 From privacy to trust and back again. What comes next? Technology 7 min
Jun 2026 Why are maps broken in India. It is the data layer. Data 7 min
Jun 2026 "Meri shaktiyon ka galat istemal hua hai maa." AI 6 min
Jun 2026 ChatGPT told me so. AI 6 min
Jun 2026 He meant he went upstairs. AI just brought it back. AI 6 min
Jun 2026 The expert's operating layer AI 9 min
Jun 2026 Both of them were right. That was the whole problem. Empathy 6 min
Jun 2026 The company that knew why it existed founders 7 min
Jan 2020 Why I Value 'Trust' More Than 'Performance'? Leadership 5 min
Apr 2018 How a Truck Driver Taught Me What Corporate Trainings Could Not Leadership 5 min
Mar 2018 The Importance of Perspective and Intelligent Analysis Behavioral 5 min
Feb 2018 Why Understanding Your Market 'First Hand' Is Really the Key Founders 7 min
Mar 2018 Three Things I Learnt About Leadership — Episode 3 Leadership 6 min
Jan 2018 Three Things I Learnt About Leadership — Episode 2 Leadership 5 min
Jan 2018 Three Things I Learnt About Leadership — Episode 1 Leadership 4 min
Mar 2020 Physics of Infinity and Perception of Perfection Behavioral 7 min
May 2026 From Social Distancing to Social Isolation. An Unwarranted Journey. Experiential 5 min
May 2026 Culture Is What Happens When No One Is Watching. Culture 6 min
May 2026 The Guard Did Not Need My Photograph. The App Did. AI & Tech 6 min
May 2026 Vision Is Where You Are Going. Values Are How You Get There Every Day. Founders 7 min
May 2026 How Many Lives Did You Save Yesterday? Culture 7 min
May 2026 He Had Not Used the App. He Still Knew Exactly Why It Was Failing. Culture 6 min
May 2026 This Post Is Not About Funding Winters. Founders 7 min
May 2026 Your Employee Is Not Cheating. Your Leave Policy Is. Culture 6 min
May 2026 We Wore Masks for Covid. We Won't Wear Helmets for the Road. Culture 7 min
May 2026 "I Think You Should Buy From Our Competitor." Culture 6 min
May 2026 He Knocked on Our Garage Door in 2016. Apple Put Him in Their Hall of Fame. Culture 6 min
May 2026 The Companies That Do Not Fake It Are Losing the Race. Founders 7 min
May 2026 The Uncle Remembered. He Had Not Seen Me in Six Months. Experiential 6 min
May 2026 The Casino Knew Something About Your Brain Long Before UPI Did. Experiential 6 min
May 2026 Stock Brokers Are Now Asking Me How Maps Are Made. Geospatial 8 min
May 2026 The Vintage Car in the Garden AI 7 min
May 2026 Thank God We Had Alternatives in 2018. Geospatial 8 min
May 2026 The Chef's Knife Problem Engineering 7 min
May 2026 My Wife Has Been Doing This for Years. Developers Call It Rubber Duck Debugging. Engineering 5 min
May 2026 I Do Not Remember My Last Drawn Salary. But I Remember This. Culture 7 min
May 2026 "Papa, Why Should We Use Google and Not Gemini?" AI 6 min
May 2026 What I Learnt Choosing a Co-Founder. Three Times. Founders 8 min
May 2026 Seems Like You Used ChatGPT to Make This AI 7 min
May 2026 This Does Not Feel Like Your Code. And That Is Okay. AI 6 min
May 2026 The Green Zone, the Yellow Zone, and the Red Zone: A Student's Reliability Map for AI AI · Series 6 7 min
May 2026 The AI-Augmented Engineer: Using the Characters Without Becoming One AI · Series 5 8 min
May 2026 From Prompting the Yes Man to Engineering Reliable AI Workflows AI · Series 4 8 min
May 2026 Beware the Eloquent Speaker: Why AI Can Sound Right and Still Be Wrong AI · Series 3 8 min
May 2026 The Curious Kid Inside the Machine: How LLMs Understand Without Truly Knowing AI · Series 2 8 min
May 2026 Meet the LLM: IKIA, The Yes Man, The Eloquent, and The Curious Kid AI · Series 1 7 min
May 2026 My friend talked for eleven minutes about Emirates. She did not mention the engine once. Architecture 7 min
May 2026 Whatever the inventor gave you, bring it in. The format is the tool's problem. Architecture 8 min
May 2026 I wrote two lines. My client read two lines. ChatGPT charged us both for fifteen. AI 6 min