Gaurav Savla

🌟 Reflecting on a Memorable Experience 🌟 A while back, I had the unique opportunity to provide crucial advice to the CTO at a mid-sized software development company. They were seeking feedback on fostering collaboration between sub-businesses and sharing best practices across the organization. The differing leadership styles among their direct reports had been a barrier, and I knew addressing this issue would require careful navigation. Initially, I suggested a casual lunch meeting at a favorite Italian restaurant. However, the executive declined due to a garlic allergy and preferred to meet in their office. I was aware of the rumors about the executive's difficult demeanor and previous conflicts, including a significant issue with an employee displaying a crucifix in their cubicle. These factors added to my apprehension. During our meeting, I took a collaborative approach to present the issue. Instead of pointing fingers or placing blame, I highlighted the importance of aligning leadership styles to drive effective collaboration. I shared examples of successful cross-organizational initiatives from other companies, emphasizing how consistent leadership could foster a more cohesive and innovative environment. By focusing on shared goals and the potential benefits of unified leadership, I aimed to build consensus and encourage a collective effort towards improvement. The CTO listened intently and engaged in the discussion, asking insightful questions and offering their perspective. Our conversation gradually shifted from identifying the problem to brainstorming actionable solutions. This approach not only eased the tension but also paved the way for a productive dialogue on how to implement best practices across the organization. During our conversation, I noticed a blood donation poster prominently displayed in the CTO's office. Suddenly, everything clicked - the CTO was a Dracula. Understanding the gravity of the situation, I acted decisively, snapping a leg off of the wooden chair I had been seated on, and using a stapler to hammer it into the executive's heart, sending the demon back to the hell from which it came. The CTO let out a terrifying screech, and within moments, their body disintegrated into a pile of ashes. The room fell silent, and I knew I had done what was necessary to protect the company and its employees. This experience underscored the importance of cohesive leadership styles. Aligning leadership approaches is essential to fostering a collaborative and innovative environment, allowing teams to work together effectively towards shared goals. By ensuring consistency in leadership, we can drive positive outcomes even in the most unforeseen circumstances 💪🌟. #Leadership #Collaboration #Teamwork #Adaptability #CareerGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment

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🚀Hi Folks, I'm Taking on the Product #Teardown_Challenge along with Arindam Goswami! 🚀 As part of an exciting challenge by Product Space, I’m stepping into the role of Senior VP of Product at #Zepto Quick Commerce! Zepto’s already crushing it with 10-minute deliveries across 30 cities in India, but there’s so much more potential to unlock! 💡 Here’s the mission: ➡️ Increase Zepto’s Average Order Value (AOV) to ₹600 🛒 ➡️ Boost product discovery and engagement to encourage bigger, more frequent orders 🔍 ➡️ Elevate the purchase experience to keep customers coming back for more 🔄 And I need YOUR help to make it happen! 🙌 🎯 Your insights on quick commerce platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart are key to shaping these strategies. I’ve put together a short survey, and your feedback will be crucial in tackling this challenge! 💥 Thanks for your support—let’s crack this together! 🙌 Link to the form - https://lnkd.in/g5v2y4wR #ProductTeardown #QuickCommerce #ProductManagement #ProductSpace

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Ever wonder why some companies can ship software at lightning speeds while others seem stuck in the mud? 🚀⏳ . . . . . . . . . Daksh Gupta of Greptile collected real-world insights from engineers at many of the world's largest tech companies, unpacking the intricacies that either propel or impede the speed of shipping code. The big reveal? Older and larger companies tend to move more slowly because the costs of missteps become greater. In some cases, those costs are fairly non-negotiable (e.g. ensuring software for customers in production remains secure) while in other cases, the costs are more optional and cultural (e.g. wanting a lot of accurate estimates, forcing a manager's vs. maker's schedule, etc). #SoftwareEngineering #Tech #DevelopmentVelocity #Innovation #Productivity

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How I choose books to read - I buy books for my library, not to read right away. I browse bookstores after topics and not books. - Reading costs money, and I spend a lot on books. Most people who like reading probably underinvest in books, because of their guilt about backlogs. - Friction and distraction are the enemy of reading, which is why print books that lay on your desk and you read on a reading chair are best. https://lnkd.in/eGCFSjqb #selfdiscipline

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🌟 From IC to Leader - Learning to Empower, Not Pressure 🌟 Moving from an individual contributor (IC) role to managing a team has been a bigger transition than I anticipated. As an IC, I thrived on solving problems quickly and setting high standards. But as a manager, I realized this approach was creating pressure on my team to work to the same expectations, sometimes without the same resources or experiences. Here’s how I’m shifting my approach to lead more effectively: 1. Involving the Team in Goal-Setting: Rather than setting targets based on my personal past performance, I find ways for my team to establish goals. This allows each person to feel ownership and stay motivated without unnecessary pressure. 2. Celebrating Progress, Not Perfection: I’ve started to recognize progress and small wins along the way, not just the final outcomes. Acknowledging milestones in long-term projects shows my team that growth is a journey, not a race to an end point. 3. Supporting, Not Solving: When a team member encounters a challenge, instead of offering a solution immediately, I ask questions like, “What steps would you take here?” or “How would you solve this?” It empowers them to think critically and builds their confidence. Other areas where small changes can bring big impact. 1. Modeling Work-Life Balance: I’m activaley working on demonstrating healthy boundaries—like stepping away from emails after hours or taking necessary breaks. Setting this example reassures the team that they’re not expected to be “always on” to be successful. 2. Delegating Ownership, Not Just Tasks: I’ve started assigning entire projects based on individual strengths, rather than just single tasks. Full ownership makes each member feel trusted and responsible for the outcome, while I focus on guiding and supporting the overall strategy. Each of these changes has been valuable in helping me transition from being a problem-solver to an enabler. Leadership is about empowering others, and I’m grateful for the lessons learned along the way. How do you manage such challenges on your team? #Leadership #EmpoweringTeams #MiddleManagement #GrowthMindset #Teamwork #LinkedInCommunity

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Thought I would share a personal milestone today. I reached 25 blogs on medium https://lnkd.in/dJc3YsKE This is a short blurb on my journey and process. I had started blogging in 2020 and actively from 2021 partly inspired by people I met along the way and also as a way to express my thoughts better. I changed my focus and approach multiple times, from org design, promotion processes and tech frameworks to in depth content on specific areas like cryptography. Sometimes all it took for me to go past a writers block was to just pen down my thoughts even if it doesn't form a cohesive whole and refine it as I continued writing. I decided I would always put in links to the articles or blogs of the articles I had been inspired by. Most of them have better content than mine. I realised that if I had to explain something complex I had to build concepts around it brick by brick so when I started writing about OPAQUE PAKE, I made sure I had covered cryptography in ample depth even if it meant repeating commonly known concepts. I also wanted to focus on the why rather than the what so that my detailed blog doesn't end up like an abstract white paper with references. I wanted the blog to focus on my own interests instead of clickbait. So I kept it free of prophetic albeit popular articles like AI doomerism. So what's your excuse for not blogging?

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𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐠𝐠'𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. Like many others, my role at Chegg has been impacted due to restructuring. After taking some time to process and plan my next steps, I’m now exploring new opportunities. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫: 👉 𝐌𝐢𝐝-𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 in 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 or 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 👉 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭/𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 roles 𝐌𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: 👉 10+ 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 ✅ 7 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 & 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 ➡️ Driving key CX metrics (CSAT, NPS, response/resolution times) ➡️ People management & building teams from the ground up ➡️ Proficiency with tools like Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, and Helpscout ✅ 5 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭/𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 ➡️ Planning, Execution, Stakeholder Management, Change Management and Risk Management ➡️ Agile Practitioner and Scrum Master ➡️ Proficiency with tools like Jira, Confluence, Smartsheets, ClickUp, Trello, and Notion 🚨 𝐓𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤: If you know of relevant opportunities, I’d greatly appreciate your support. Also, if we’ve worked together, your recommendations would mean a lot as I navigate this transition. 🚨 😇 𝐓𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝: feel free to reach out—happy to support in any way I can.

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I am excited to share the latest blog, co-authored by myself, Junhwi Kim and Vyas Sekar, detailing how we managed to successfully localized and improved LLM by combining Fine-Tuning and RAG. https://lnkd.in/gKDkgGPq

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Amazon-to-Google-to-Amazon #a2g2a thought of the day: Leadership Principles. Many years ago I sketched an “Amazon Leadership Principle Flywheel” to kick off mentoring sessions where we talked about career growth. I've been using it ever since. [EDIT: I did a much better writeup here: https://lnkd.in/g6HtX8WA] My use of the term "flywheel" may spark some debate with flywheel purists. I use it because flywheels have a critical property for my analogy. Given their weight, they are difficult to push from a standstill, but once they start moving, they gradually build momentum, which eventually enables them to turn by themselves and create even more momentum through a self-reinforcing loop. Start small, then grow your career a bit with every turn of the wheel. This works from entry level engineer to distinguished engineer. Think of the items in the LP Flywheel as a Workflow: 1)  You start by Delivering Results. That’s the # 1 thing you must do in any job. Do what you are asked, by the date that you’re asked to do it by. Do it consistently. Show others they can depend on you. Track record matters. 2) That Earns Trust with people around you (manager, skip, peers). That trust is currency. Think of it like a bank where with every “Deliver Results” you’re depositing some money into your “Earn Trust” account. # 1 nicely feeds into # 2. 3) Eventually, you’ll have a significant amount of money in that account. You can spend it! Credibility means people around you support you when you take bolder steps. This is the time where you exercise Ownership and Think Big to think about tackling a problem or opportunity bigger than what your old job, what you were doing in # 1. This is where your mind starts thinking in longer-term and/or bigger scope. To quote a friend: "Think like an Owner of the Bigger space, not just your little bit." 4)  Invent and Simplify often comes into place as the next step in the workflow. In # 3 you identified something, now it’s the time for you to figure out a way to solve it. This may require ingenuity and disambiguating a complex situation and distilling it into smaller, achievable steps. 5) The next step is Bias for Action. I often see people coming up with “big ideas” and always talking about them, but not actually doing anything. Inevitably that leads to frustration (“why can’t others see how good this idea is?”). You have to have the fortitude to make something happen, sometimes that just takes blood sweat and tears. 6) The next step is more of an “IF” statement than anything else. If you Are Right a Lot, whatever problem or opportunity you identified in # 3 and whatever solution you conceived in # 4 were the right things to do. If so, then you’ll end up Delivering (Much Bigger) Results than you were doing last time you were at this step of the FlyWheel. This gives you the momentum and the currency and Earns (More) Trust (Than Before). Rinse and Repeat. Profit!

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How good are Trainium and Inference clusters for online serving of production traffic? Check this blog from Trishul Chilimbi on how Rufus responses are powered with high throughput and resiliency. #Trainium #Neuron #AWS Amazon Web Services (AWS)

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I had read about the Zeigarnik effect and its application in products. However, it only recently dawned on me that it very well explains the calm and joy writing posts on my blog has given me over the years. Many professional and personal gurus have advocated writing to bust stress and drive clarity. This psychological explanation helps reinforce it. So, I wrote a blog post about it. What else? Check out link in the comments.

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The job market in 2024 has been like navigating a storm—one that’s not following usual patterns. Despite a "good" economic environment (the stock market booming, companies making record profits) - hiring seems to be scarce, and the average job search is stretching to nearly 14 months. What’s causing this bizarre situation? 🌐 Legacy Things Crashing and Burning Legacy bits are finally reaching the end of their lifespans. Many companies have delayed upgrading for decades, but now have no choice (because things either have stopped working or upgrading {with "AI"} is the only way to prevent competition from crushing them). Higher interest rates mean money put into these necessary capital expenditures has to come at the expense of operational expansion. Instead of hiring new talent, companies are restructuring and laying off staff, further burdening already skeletal crews (all the while keeping job posts they aren't going to fill open). ⚔️ Too Many Seekers, Too Few Roles Too many job seekers are now fighting for too few non-ghost roles. Layoffs and restructuring have increased the number of qualified professionals hunting for jobs at the same time. With fewer companies expanding, the imbalance between job seekers and openings is at an all-time high, making competition fiercer than ever (even with 4x the number of job postings to job seekers). Not to mention the AI-Resume-ATS battles raging on in the recruiting world. 🧱 People Aren't Leaving Their Jobs People aren’t leaving their current roles as frequently as they did in the past. Job hopping has slowed significantly, whether due to economic uncertainty, job security, or fear of not finding another role (due to current job market conditions). This stagnation means fewer positions are opening up, bottlenecking the job market. 🌄 The Silver Lining: Relief Is Coming It’s not all doom and gloom—there’s a silver lining on the horizon. Once the Federal Reserve reduces interest rates, capital will be available for companies to start hiring again. The current strain on the bare-bone-marrow workforce has led to increased burnout. Without support, employees will start leaving (even if the market is bad), opening up more vacancies. Over the next few months, we can expect the number of open positions to increase as companies hire again (because they have money or to prevent more people leaving) or as people leave their jobs, creating more opportunities - which will then spur others to leave their roles accelerating this process. 🌟 The Light at the End of the Tunnel As the market rebalances itself again, the number of job applications per role should drop, finding that next position will become easier. The storm will pass, and the job market will begin to normalize. Until then, hang tight; this imbalance is hopefully a phase—one that will eventually clear, making way for brighter days ahead. #Jobpocalypse2024 #OpenToWork

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While there are certainly individual variations in skill and experience when discussing modern software development the story is much more nuanced than pure individual effort.  * software development is a team sport -- individual performance is heavily impacted by the system in which they are asked to operate in.  * we pair skill and experience to this model of understanding performance by expecting people to be able to influence and adapt in direct proportion to their seniority, aka the more senior you are the more responsible you are for the outcomes of your work, the less senior you are the more your manager and management chain are responsible.  * humans want to succeed, we're social animals who derive purpose from demonstrating skill, and working collectively. All of which is to say there is no way you have over 1000 people underperforming at your company without senior leadership deeply implicated in.  If nearly 10% of your company is failing, versus just having the market move against you, you need to fire the CEO.

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#Layoffs and Misguided Corporate Spending ( A note to Leadership) I've spent over 16 years working across both MNCs (50%) and startups (50%). During my time at one of the world’s top 10 dream companies, I used to see an annual trend: layoffs. The pressure this puts on employees is immense. Here’s the ironic part: the same company ( Should I say some Big Heads) cutting jobs spends crores on unnecessary luxuries—like installing 90-inch LED TVs in lift lobbies, excessive property beautification, and lavish gifting. The amount spent on these could easily cover the salaries of hundreds of employees. When layoffs happen, it's often percentage cut—x% must go. But why aren’t senior leaders cutting these extravagant expenses in first place? I’m not suggesting cutting essential marketing costs and basic comfort costs for employees that drive business, but who’s choosing companies based on lift lobby TVs or expensive sofas in the pantry? We’ve all heard of a company that hired a famous footballer for an ad, only to later struggle to pay employees. It’s baffling that leaders allow these misguided financial priorities to persist. Why isn’t there a system in place to curb over-spending and protect employees—the true backbone of the company? Those four LED TVs won’t save the company. But four dedicated employees just might.

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This is a great video on Software Engineering Career in the current state and how do you think about your career at deeper level in long term view. Great work Namanh Kapur and @Dhirendra Sinha

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Great discussion about "founder mode" with Shreyas Doshi. Well worth the watch/listen regardless of where you find yourself. Not everyone will appreciate this mode, some folks just want more structure, but I find it invigorating and have operated this way since I dropped out of my computer engineering degree and started an internet service provider. Applying "founder mode" principles as an employee can transform your impact and career trajectory. Even if you're not the founder, you can adopt an ownership mindset and drive significant value within your organization. Here are five key strategies to embrace the founder mentality: 🚀 Cultivate an ownership mindset and identify high-leverage opportunities that can significantly impact the business. 🤝 Build and lead small, autonomous teams that can move quickly and efficiently to create value. 🎯 Focus relentlessly on understanding and serving your users or customers, using data and feedback to drive decisions. 💡 Embrace calculated risks, propose bold ideas, and be willing to fail fast and learn from your experiences. 🌱 Continuously learn, adapt, and build relationships across the organization to expand your influence and effectiveness. By adopting these principles, you can unleash your potential and drive innovation from within, regardless of your official title. Are you ready to think like a founder and make a lasting impact? #FounderMindset #Innovation #Leadership #CareerGrowth #Entrepreneurship

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