Shalini Agarwal

A successful systems design and delivery strategy begins by assuming that change is likely the only constant. Be adaptable, or fail.

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Thanks, Amnic team, for hosting me on your podcast. I enjoyed the conversation with Sathya narayanan Nagarajan. We have many things in common from our learnings from working on CD-based products where perfection was the expectation in the first iteration to today, when Amnic and Mindtickle are taking big bets on GenAI and Cloud to delight our customers. In this podcast, I shared my experiences of more than twenty years of building and deploying large-scale systems at Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Mindtickle. The podcast also covers my learnings from moving from large enterprises to a relatively smaller company where being agile and nimble is paramount. #Microsoft, #Meta, #Google #Mindtickle.

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In today's remote work environment, building a supportive and engaging culture is essential But how do you do that when you are miles apart? This article provides practical tips on how BlaBlaCar is fostering a strong collaboration culture by creating comfort zone, allowing staff members to get feedback and support in a very assertive way ! Thank you Kineret Kimhi, Yannick Hoffsess and Maxime Fouilleul for this great article :)

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Your ability to adapt to changing conditions will be your super power. Being overly adapted to existing conditions makes survival questionable.

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From Astrologer's Whispers to Real Connections: Reclaiming Belonging in a Lonely Age Have you ever consulted an astrologer, their predictions swirling in your head, only to feel empty when your day takes a different turn? The emptiness might not be about the details themselves, but about seeking outside approval for your happiness. This same feeling can creep in even when you achieve success. Remember climbing the career ladder, landing that dream apartment, only to find yourself lost in a quiet emptiness? In India's bustling cities, it's a familiar, painful emotion. We're surrounded by people, yet there's a little loneliness at the edges of our lives. Thinking back to Mrs. Deshmukh, your friendly neighbour with the legendary Til Gur Barfi's, who brought the whole neighbourhood together with tea and friendly chats. Those evenings of shared stories and laughter, a web woven by simple human connection, feel like a distant memory in our super-connected yet broken world. We chase success with thumbs glued to screens, building online bridges that leave us feeling more alone than ever. The pressure to create a perfect online self-drowns out the whispers of our own desires. But here's the real deal, that shiny designation and fancy car can't fill the hole left by genuine connection. There's hope, though! We can rewrite this story. Let's ditch the small talk and chase deeper connections. Share your fears and worries, break free from feeling isolated in this sea of ambition. Remember the warmth of family gatherings, the joy of shared childhood games? Revive those small traditions. Pick up the phone for a real heart-to-heart conversation rather than What's Apping. Every act of connection, no matter how ordinary, how small, builds a more satisfying life. Imagine hearing back from an old friend, reliving an old laugh, and being surrounded by people who truly see us, where we belong. Isn't that what life is all about? Together, one conversation, one meal, and one act of kindness at a time, we can tear down the walls of loneliness. We can rewrite the narrative of modern society, where connection becomes the foundation of a life well lived. It's not too late, or is it? #HumanConnections #BelongingMatters #OvercomeLoneliness #RealConversations #MeaningfulRelationships #CommunityOverConnectivity #AuthenticLiving #SocialWellbeing #RedefiningSuccess #TraditionsRewoven #FightIsolation #VulnerableAndReal #KindnessRevolution #SmallActsBigImpact #ReconnectingHumanity #IndianSociety #UrbanLoneliness #DigitalDetox #QualityOverQuantity #ConnectionCures Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

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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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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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Envy is a dangerous emotion. In many ways, worse than greed or malice. Rebecca Konynoyk Deyoung, in her book - ‘Glittering Vices’, puts it best when she describes it as, “Feeling bitter when others have it better.” Not to be confused with its twin, Jealousy, who feels ill will when it has to compete for what it already possesses fearing its loss. Jealousy vies to be the sole possessor of what it owns. Envy on the other hand is not rooted in what it possesses but rather what it doesn't. It desires what belongs to another. One grave danger of Envy, is that it fears not to suffer loss as long as its object doesn't gain. Willing to endure harm if it means the other suffers also. A poem by Victor Hugo (’Envy and Avarice’) illustrates this, such that when Envy and Avarice were given the opportunity to receive whatever they wished on the condition that the other receive double. Envy responded, “I wish to be blind in one eye” (paraphrase). When we forget to run our own race in our own lane, we make it our steady companion. Seeking satisfaction in another losing what they possess even if it means we also don't possess it. One remedy I've found is to turn that gaze towards the one we envy from ill to curiosity. Curiosity on what we can learn from this person. Curiosity on what we can do differently to also improve. Indeed it might be chance or skill that benefits them. Ultimately, we need to walk away from the comparison game. It is one you and I will never win. When we cease to compare, we do away with Envy’s vice grip. One good thing that dwelling on our Envy does is that it shines a light on what defines our identity. You want what the one you envy has because somehow it is important to your sense of self. To really rid ourselves of Envy, then, we must then examine what defines us and make sure the foundation is sure.

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In episode four of Dropbox's podcast, Working Smarter, hear how Cognizant’s Babak Hodjat is helping businesses integrate AI tools into their workflows.

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Humans have an inherent friction to change, be it city, house, job, role, team—almost anything. Interestingly, in my whole career, I have hardly found anyone who recently joined a team and wholeheartedly appreciates the things the team has done in the past or is currently doing. Most Engineers and PMs have their existing biases towards how things should be done, best practices, etc. They have their anecdotes to prove their points. I do appreciate people from diverse backgrounds, as that helps figure out solutions to tough problems sometimes. However, things become less productive when it results in ego clashes. Especially when interacting with some of the young engineers, they are very enthusiastic about new technologies, programming languages, cool frameworks, tools, and whatnot. They feel disconnected when they find none of these things are that relevant to most organizations doing real business. I know that's not cool, but that's how most businesses are built. Things at well-established businesses can't be changed at the pace at which technologies are evolving. Of course, corrective actions need to be taken at certain intervals. How to solve it: Develop empathy. Context is king, trust that the decisions that a team or company has taken in the past must have had a legit context then. A decision that seems stupid now might have been the best possible decision back then, depending on factors like cost, tech capabilities, resources, time to market, and probably many more. #empathy #context #business

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I co-presented a "Male Allies" talk last month at an Amazon conference with the extremely talented Natalie White and thought I'd share here (pt 1). An ally is a person who *actively* supports the rights of a marginalized group that they are not a member of. "Ally" is not a label that you get to assign yourself through your intentions, it's a badge you earn through your *intentional actions.* Allies can't just "not be a bad guy" - you have to actually be the good guy and good guys lend a hand and help out. Helping out doesn't mean being a "Hero" or a "Rescuer" - situations that require heroics are rare and people who are members of marginalized groups are fully capable of being their own heroes. Being an Ally means taking steady and regular actions in the moment (daily!) to make space, question, correct lightly, and set an expectation of equity so that your colleagues don't have to do this all by themselves - on top of their other work - on top of the inequities that make that work harder. Natalie's talk that I contributed to focused on gender allies because men in software have an outsized ability to act as allies to women and non-binary people in US corporate tech culture. Tech companies like Amazon have more men in leadership roles, women enter tech fields at a lower rate (US), and exit computer science at shorter tenures than men - with research showing that bad culture is one of the biggest reasons for that departure. Men benefit from a host of tech gender stereotypes - in that they don't suffer the same harms of micro-aggressions ("smile more!"), cultural expectations ("she'll volunteer to be the note taker!"), and conflicting standards ("He's a direct leader! She's a B!"). We simply just benefit from being the majority gender of the computer science field - and not because we're more capable (we're not). Being an Ally is the right thing to do as a person, for our colleagues, and as an imperative to make our workplaces more diverse (companies with higher diversity perform better), equitable (fairness ensures higher performance and engagement by our people), and inclusive (feeling included where we spend so much of our lives makes us happier and healthier people - and perform better). While men have a lot to do as allies in software, there is room for all of us be allies to someone - to the only quality engineer in the team, to the person on the team who immigrated from another country, to the person who looks "different" from others in the team, and yes - even to graduates of Ohio State (spoiler - I went to the University of Michigan). More to come if there is interest...

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I recently became aware of the term "Gish Gallop". I find that this concept can also be applied to a similar style of discussion, whereby a person dominates the conversation to control the narrative. The opposite style of discussion is where participants minimize words to convey the maximum quantity of useful information. Then, provide the maximum opportunity for participation by others. Learn to not gish gallop. https://lnkd.in/gYw4g_XE

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The products team's fixation on milestones tends to divert their attention from the broader perspective. They hop from one feature to another, enamored by each glowing aspect. Individuals work in isolated bubbles, fixated on ticking off one milestone after another, sometimes without significant displacement. Read More - https://lnkd.in/dxEvS6Yg #products #productmanagement #milestones

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The scale we deal with, the complexity it brings in and the impact we create for millions of customers across the globe, are defining moments for our teams at Amazon India. Every day, our tech teams invent and deliver things that were never thought as possible! #HearFromBuilders at Amazon on how they solve real-world problems with technology. #NationalTechDay #ItsStillDay1 #AmazonIndia #TechAtAmazon

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Influencing to get things done - is what we do consciously and subconsciously everyday- at work, in the family and with friends. A lovely article from #hbr breaking down this important aspect of our interactions with a few specific use-cases and practical takeaways. Remember - influencing is not the forte of leaders only - we all can influence to win in whatever we do ! Take a read and jot down your own thoughts (or experiences) in the comments section. #influencewithintent #gettingthingsdone

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“Don’t wait for your next job to do your best work.” Satya from Microsoft said this in an interview and it was the most profound thing I’ve heard in recent years—for me. What does it mean for me to do my best, what’s expected in my role, compared with my strengths. Whats my unique value add— There are a few things that seem undeniable as priorities: 🔑 (1) building trusted relationships based on proven execution, and 🔑 (2) your ability to influence in person AND in writing. Your best should be defined by more than just your domain knowledge. How do you deal with change, how do you build trust in a constantly changing organization, and how can you verify that. What do your peers say about you when you’re not in the room? What do you want them to say? For me, I’d like to get better at long-form writing. So you’ll probably see more of that from me. What does your best look like?

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Insightful session on how AI can bring benefits throughout different stages of the SDLC, including code explanation, generation, testing, code reviews, and monitoring in the production environment

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In today's competitive landscape, leveraging data warehouses and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) is essential for personalized customer engagement. By building cross-functional teams with expertise in engineering, data, and marketing, organizations can effectively manage and utilize data. Our latest blog delves into practical applications and use cases, helping you prioritize and align business objectives with data capabilities. Continuous testing, optimization, and advanced AI technologies will further enhance your marketing efforts, leading to improved customer retention and business growth. #DataDriven #CustomerEngagement #MarketingStrategy #AI

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