1-minute tech🧑‍💻 How to tell if you're slowing your devs down


Hey Reader!

Tip: Setting deadlines without your team's input isn't managing. It's guessing out loud.

Why: Technical work doesn't run on willpower. Deadlines set without developer input ignore testing requirements, hidden complexity, and the fact that some requests might be outright impossible.

Do this: Manage your team, don't dictate to them:

  • Set expectations and deliverables together — let the team give input on timelines and scope
  • Once expectations are clear, give them room to breathe without checking in every hour
  • Keep the team anchored to the target audience — remind them regularly who they're building for and why (A developer who understands the goal works smarter than one who's just following orders.)

If you're looking for an app development team you can hand off to and trust, let's talk.

Book a free strategy call now (only 3 slots available every month): https://upstackstudio.com/strategy-session/


Hi, I'm Adrian Ching, founder of Upstack Studio, an app development agency that helps entrepreneurs scale their business through tech. AKA the Malaysian dude on YouTube who builds apps. You know, the one with zero shame.Every week, I share a 1-minute tip to help founders like you turn your app ideas into reality. Follow along if this sounds cool.

Upstack Studio

Read more from Upstack Studio

Hey Reader! I want to make it concrete. Because "your processes are broken" is easy to say. It's harder to actually see, Especially when you're inside the business every day. So here are 3 signs the process is the real issue:The same mistake keeps happening with different people. If multiple team members have made the exact same error, it's not a hiring problem. The process doesn't protect against that mistake. No amount of training will fix it. The process needs to change. Onboarding a new...

Hey Reader! Tip: Don't blindly copy your competitor's tech stack. Why: What works for them might be wrong for you. Their tech stack was built around their business model, their team size, their budget, and their specific problems. Those choices came with tradeoffs and limitations baked in. If you copy their stack without knowing any of that context, you're also copying the baggage that came with those tools; limitations that were acceptable for them but might be completely wrong for your...

Hey Reader! There's a number most business owners have never calculated. Take the hours your team spends on admin every week; scheduling, follow-ups, document prep, chasing approvals, updating records. Add them up. Then put a dollar value on that time. For a business owner spending 20 hours a week on admin tasks, that's roughly $40,000 a year in opportunity cost. Not salary. Opportunity cost. The revenue you didn't chase, the strategy you didn't think through, the client work that got delayed...