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12 articlesHumility is the road to character
People are more narcissistic than ever because of the increasingly tremendous benefits brought by fame via the mass media and the Internet. Pride focuses on superiority. However, humility is the self-confrontation of weakness, which is painful and takes effort.
How to work with Consistentor, Context Provider, and Deliberative
Tips for collaborating with Consistentor, Context Provider, and Deliberative personality types: how to support them, communicate effectively, and leverage their strengths.
How to work with Believer, Commander, Communicator, Competitor, and Connector
Working with people need skills. Believers need jobs linking to their passion. Look to commanders taking charge when persuading people. Communicators have ideas for communication. Be competitive when with competitors. Connectors build bridges across different teams.
How to work with Achiever, Activator, Adaptor, Analyzer, and Arranger
Always work hard with Achievers. Learn from complaints from Activators and offer new initiatives. Adaptors are valuable for any team. When working with Analyzers, take time to think with them. Arrangers are excited by complex assignments.
Time Management for System Administrators: Fundamental Principles
The time management code for SAs: avoid interruptions; consolidate all time management information in one place; don't constantly think about managing time, develop routines, habits, and mantras; good self-control helps maintain focus during projects; use the same tools to manage your life.
Ryan Holiday: How User Growth Begins with PMF (Product-Market Fit)
PMF refers to the degree to which a product meets strong market demand. How does user growth begin with PMF? Start with the simplest viable product and improve based on user feedback; use the data and information obtained to support the enhancement of PMF; understand customer needs as early as possible; find answers using the Socratic method.
From Good to Great
Leading a company from good to great is equivalent to driving a massive flywheel to achieve breakthroughs through the following three factors: disciplined and well-trained people; disciplined and well-trained thoughts; disciplined and well-trained actions.
Ryan Holiday: Attracting and Nurturing Seed Users
How to attract and nurture seed users? Here are some points to consider: Target a few hundred or a thousand key individuals, rather than millions; focus on the right people, not everyone; concentrate on new user registrations (acquisition) rather than brand awareness; growth hacking = marketing + engineering.
Designing a URL Shortener System
Design a system that can convert URLs provided by users into short URLs, allowing users to access their original long URLs using these short URLs. The operation of the system should include, but not be limited to, the following questions: How to allocate short URLs? How to store the mapping between short URLs and long URLs? How to implement the redirection service? How to store access data?
Improving System Availability through Failover
An overview of failover strategies for improving system availability, including cold, warm, and hot backups, and active-active versus active-passive configurations.
Lambda Architecture
Using Lambda can address three issues brought by big data: accuracy (good); latency (fast); throughput (high). The lambda architecture can guide us on how to scale a data system.
Nonviolent Communication (NVC)
Nonviolent Communication is not about appearing friendly, nor is it about getting others to do what we want; it concerns mutual understanding between people. There are two ways to strengthen connections and understanding between individuals: expressing our feelings and needs vulnerably; and actively listening to the feelings and needs of others.
About Tian Pan
I'm Tian Pan, an engineer-founder focused on agentic engineering — building autonomous AI systems and scaling engineering teams. I write practical guides on system design, technical leadership, and shipping with AI agents. Previously an early engineer at Uber, Brex, and IoTeX.
