Field notes — Behnam Jafari Balalami https://behnaam.com/blog Notes on product, operating systems and evidence. en Trust is a designed feature, not a tone of voice https://behnaam.com/journal/trust-is-designed https://behnaam.com/journal/trust-is-designed In gold, in charity, in legal filings, the trust that held was the kind built into an artefact someone could check. Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Productise tacit knowledge, or stay a bottleneck https://behnaam.com/journal/productise-tacit https://behnaam.com/journal/productise-tacit CompanyHouse taught me that the hard part is never the software — it is getting the expert's exceptions out of their head. Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 An operating system beats a strategy deck https://behnaam.com/journal/operating-system https://behnaam.com/journal/operating-system Shalize did not grow because of a strategy. It grew because every step of the work had one owner, one definition and one place to live. Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Say what did not work https://behnaam.com/journal/say-what-failed https://behnaam.com/journal/say-what-failed A portfolio without failures cannot be calibrated. Here is what broke in mine, and what each break taught me. Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The client is not an external order-giver https://behnaam.com/journal/client-not-order-giver https://behnaam.com/journal/client-not-order-giver Consulting collapses when the client becomes someone you deliver to instead of someone you think with — here is what that cost me, and what it bought. Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Numbers must survive being asked about https://behnaam.com/journal/numbers-survive-asking https://behnaam.com/journal/numbers-survive-asking Every figure I publish has to hold up when someone asks where it came from — and most of mine were never audited. Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000