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Ali Sarraf

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May 24, 2026
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  1. People only remember how you made them feel
    May 24, 2026 · original
    Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I’ve been thinking about this quote for years. It’s a simple idea, but it’s true. In our work, we spend a lot of time trying to say the right things or do impressive stuff. But in the end, what really matters is how we make people feel. Think about the people who’ve had the biggest impact on you – your favorite boss, a helpful colleague, a mentor. You probably don’t remember the exact words they used. But you remember how they made you feel. Supported. Inspired. Like you mattered. It works the other way too. The clients you went above and beyond for, the coworkers you really listened to, the people on your team whose work you appreciated out loud – they may not remember the details of what you said, but they’ll remember how you made them feel.
  2. How simple things can take a long time in big organisations
    May 20, 2026 · original
    One of the things that surprised me most during my time at Google was how long simple things can take. Not the big ambitious projects. Those were expected to be hard. I mean the small things. Updating a feature. Changing a default. Getting two teams to agree on a shared approach. Things that should have taken days somehow took months. And the frustrating part was that nobody was being difficult. Everyone was trying their best. When organisations grow, the number of people who need to align on any decision grows with them. And that cost doesn’t scale in a straight line. It compounds. Two people agreeing on something is easy. Ten people across four teams, with different managers, different priorities, and different definitions of success, is an entirely different problem. Nobody designed it that way. It just emerges. What makes it so hard to address is that the cost stays invisible. Each i
  3. Get the simple product things right
    May 20, 2026 · original
    I spent 20 minutes trying to log into an app last week. Good reviews. Slick demo video. The kind of product that makes you think “why didn’t someone build this sooner.” I couldn’t get past the login screen. When I filed a bug report, the response came back: yes, sign in is broken, we’re working on it. Sign in. The first thing every single user has to do. It’s easy to laugh at, but I see this as a pattern right now. Teams racing to ship AI features, new integrations, a redesigned dashboard, while the foundations quietly crack. Because the flashy stuff gets the demo, the press mention, the LinkedIn post. Nobody writes about the login flow that just works every time. But that’s the problem. The fundamentals are invisible when they’re working and catastrophic when they’re not. A house built on a weak foundation doesn’t fail gradually. It holds, and holds, and holds, and then it doesn’t. Auth
  4. Users don’t think about trust until something breaks
    May 20, 2026 · original
    Users are like elephants. They don’t forgive and they don’t forget. That moment when a user pauses and wonders whether your product is actually safe is the moment you spend years trying to prevent. Because once the question enters their head, you’ve already lost something you can’t fully get back… Trust. I spent a long time working on security products at Google, and one thing that stuck with me is that trust isn’t a feature. You can’t add it to a roadmap or announce it in a launch. It builds up slowly, through thousands of small decisions made consistently over time. Look at LastPass after their 2022 data breach. They had genuinely loyal users, people who had recommended the product to friends, trusted it with their most sensitive information, and used it for years. Many left almost immediately. Not because the product had stopped working. But because the one thing a password manager ca
  5. We rarely celebrate products people forget
    May 20, 2026 · original
    Success in product management is sometimes just getting out of the way. We celebrate products people love. But for a certain kind of product, forgettable is the highest bar you can hit. Not everything works this way. A great design tool should spark joy. A great game should be memorable. But some products exist purely to get out of your way. Password managers. Autofill. Login flows. Nobody wakes up excited to use these. They just need them to work, quietly, every time. I spent years working on products like these on Chrome. And something that stuck with me wasn’t about technology. It was about what success actually looks like when users have no desire to think about your product at all. People would ask me regularly: why do you need a whole team for your product area? It hasn’t really changed in years, has it? It’s a fair question on the surface. But it gets the logic exactly backwards.
  6. Small efficiency hacks on your laptop
    May 20, 2026 · original
    I sat next to someone recently and watched them use their laptop for a few minutes. It was painful. Not because they weren’t smart — but because every small action took far longer than it needed to. Two basic changes that will make you faster today: 1. Turn your trackpad speed to maximum. Go to settings and drag tracking speed all the way to the right. It’ll feel wrong for a few days. Stick with it. At lower speeds, you’re constantly lifting your finger and repositioning just to cross the screen. You’ve stopped noticing because you’ve done it for years. At maximum speed, your cursor goes where you want it in a single motion. One intention, one movement. Most people are fully comfortable within a week and never go back. Use window management software. If you’re still dragging and resizing windows manually, stop. I personally use Raycast. Set your layout with a keypress and get back to wor
  7. “I’ll handle the business side”
    May 20, 2026 · original
    Back in 2013, as a software engineer studying computer science, people frequently approached me with their app ideas. They’d say. “I’m looking for a technical co-founder. I’ll handle the business side.” Some even regrettably confided in me that they’d thought of Uber first and should’ve been billionaires. In those days, technical ability was seen as the missing piece for most startups. My engineering classes reinforced this, celebrating companies primarily for their groundbreaking tech. Business models and go-to-market strategies were often an afterthought. Fast forward to today with the rise of no-code tools and AI has flipped the script. Building an MVP is more accessible than ever. As someone who’s transitioned from engineering to product, I find this shift exciting. It democratises innovation. However, amidst the hype, let’s not forget the enduring lessons from those tech success sto
  8. Writing is the most powerful thinking tool
    Sep 13, 2024 · original
    You should write more. Not because I’m telling you to, but because it’s the most powerful thinking tool. When you write something down, you discover what you really know — and what you don’t. Writing helps you think more clearly by forcing your thoughts in order. It’s like holding up a mirror to your mind; you see your ideas reflected back at you, clear and unambiguous. You’ll surprise yourself at how much you don’t know about a topic as you start writing about it. You can write about anything. If you’re curious about a subject, write about it. The process will compel you to learn more. This applies to understanding yourself too. That’s why journaling is so popular — it’s a way to make sense of your own thoughts. I don’t journal often, but when I do, it brings clarity to what’s on my mind. I recommend journaling while travelling — there’s something about moving between places that makes
  9. The Conversation I Wish I Had: A Story About Mental Health and Friendship
    Sep 10, 2024 · original
    Back in 2014, I was obsessed with Brazilian jiu-jitsu. After several years of training, competing and leading the UCL Brazilian jiu-jitsu society , one of my jobs was to find coaches for our classes. It was through this role that I met Miles — a brilliant athlete, dependable, an amazing guy and always had a beaming smile. We weren’t just training partners — we were friends. I love Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but a shoulder injury made me stop training. Miles kept going though. He pursued his passion full-time while teaching at UCL, SOAS and co-founding Ninja school to teach kids martial arts. Miles always went out of his way to help people with their techniques. He refused to take payment for coaching at UCL and everyone loved him. However, over time, we drifted apart, as people do after university. Fast forward to 2018, I randomly remembered him and messaged on Instagram. It had been a while s
  10. 5 ways to become a product manager without having PM experience
    Feb 2, 2024 · original
    Product Manager (PM) roles need PM experience, but to get PM experience, you need a PM job. Sounds like a catch-22, right? Because of this, people often struggle with landing their first PM role. You don’t need to have PM in your job title to have PM experience. Let’s figure out how to solve this conundrum. Firstly, understanding the essence of product management is crucial. At its core, product management is delivering a great experience for people. PMs need to wear many hats to do their job well. The role blends strategic vision with tactical execution, requiring different skills . Consider the following strategies to help you get PM experience: 1. Start an internal side project: There are plenty of opportunities to develop PM skills available in your company. Typically, the smaller the company, the easier it is to get that experience. “20% project” is what Googlers call side projects.

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