Dana Iti
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Dana Iti
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34 posts

2026

Engineering & ArchitectureNew

Explain to me like I'm 12

The challenge of making something genuinely complex feel simple. I built how I want it to work, now I am working through how it needs to work so that simplicity stays that way.

1 Jun 2026•13 min
AIProduct+3 More

2025

Perspective

I saw my ChatGPT year in review. I was absolutely gobsmacked.

Top 0.1% of users. 170,000 messages. 2,700 conversations. Um...

26 Dec 2025•3 min
AILearning+1 More
Health & Performance

I Just Dumped $300 on Vitamins

I dropped $300 on vitamins because I treat my body like a system. Inputs, outputs, feedback loops. Seven supplements that actually work.

12 Dec 2025•5 min
HealthBio Hacking+2 More
AI

What 2025 actually taught us about AI

The tech got faster, the spending got bigger, and 95% of AI projects still failed.

10 Dec 2025•8 min
AIBusiness+2 More
Perspective

The Thinking Stack Behind My Songwriting

I broke down why I write the way I do and found 9 thinking patterns running under everything.

21 Nov 2025•6 min
MetacognitionCreativity+2 More
Design & UX

The Layer Under Your Design System

Design systems break because of the workflow sitting underneath them. Everyone looks at the surface. Nobody sees the layer that actually controls behaviour.

19 Nov 2025•4 min
Design SystemsUX Automation+1 More
Perspective

People Can Build Fast With AI, But Do They Understand What They Ship?

Tools are getting smarter. Code ships faster. The hard part never changed. You still have to see the system and understand how it moves.

15 Nov 2025•8 min
Systems ThinkingAI+3 More
Career & Growth

An Engineer's Secret - Beyond the Code

The hard part was never the tech. Turns out the real challenge is figuring out where your energy goes, why people matter more than process, and how to stay sane in an industry that never stops moving.

30 Oct 2025•4 min
EngineeringCareer+3 More
Design & UX

I Didn't Study UX. I Just Hated Being Annoyed

I kept getting invited back to test apps, games, global platforms, and systems. Turns out I was just good at being annoyed on behalf of other people.

26 Oct 2025•5 min
UXEngineering+3 More
Engineering & Architecture

Next.js 16. Caching Finally Makes Sense

Next.js 16 flipped caching from implicit magic to explicit choice. Everything is dynamic by default now. You opt into caching instead of fighting mysterious behaviour.

22 Oct 2025•6 min
Next.jsCaching+2 More
Design & UX

Revamping My Website

My old site looked nice but felt wrong. This time I treated it like a system, not a portfolio. Every element had to justify why it existed or it got cut.

15 Oct 2025•7 min
DesignFrontend+3 More
AI

I Don’t Want AI to Replace Thinking. I Want It to Help People Think Better

Most AI tools throw answers at you. People don't need more answers. They need help thinking through the mess.

28 Sept 2025•2 min
FounderbaseAI+3 More
Engineering & Architecture

I Made Data Feel Faster Without Actually Speeding It Up

I made WonderBook feel faster without actually making it faster. Here's how streaming changed everything.

25 Sept 2025•3 min
Next.jsReact+4 More
Engineering & Architecture

When Static Pages Weren’t Enough, Client Components Took Over

Some parts of the interface needed to feel alive, not just look pretty. Client Components made pages interactive without killing performance.

21 Sept 2025•3 min
Next.jsClient Components+3 More
Engineering & Architecture

Switched to SSR When “Good Enough” Started Causing Real Problems

Static and ISR worked great until they didn't. Some pages needed data fresh on every request. That's when SSR started making sense.

16 Sept 2025•3 min
Next.jsSSR+3 More
Engineering & Architecture

I Wanted Static Speed Without Serving Yesterday’s Data. ISR Was the Answer

I wanted static speed without serving stale data. ISR let me have both. Pages loaded fast and stayed current.

8 Sept 2025•3 min
Next.jsIsr+3 More
Engineering & Architecture

Static Rendering. Doing the Work Before Anyone Asks For It

Static rendering does the work before anyone asks. That one change made pages load 10x faster.

2 Sept 2025•4 min
Next.jsRendering+3 More
Engineering & Architecture

Rendering Blindly Cost Me Speed, Money, and Sanity. Here’s How I Fixed It

I built WonderBook without understanding rendering strategies. Cost me speed, cost me money, nearly cost me my sanity. Then I learnt how it actually works.

28 Aug 2025•4 min
Next.jsFrontend Architecture+2 More
AI

Designing AI Workflows

Chaining AI prompts takes five minutes. Keeping them reliable when people actually use them, is where things fall apart.

21 Aug 2025•4 min
AIArchitecture+3 More

2024

Engineering & Architecture

What Fits My Brain (and What Didn’t)

Tried enough tools to know what fits my brain and what doesn't. Some looked clever but made everything harder. Others just worked the way I think.

28 Nov 2024•3 min
WorkflowStack+3 More
Exploration

AI Won’t Replace Creativity. It Just Exposes Who Didn’t Have Any

I used AI to master my piano recordings. Nobody could tell. Nobody cared. That tells you everything.

5 Nov 2024•5 min
AIMusic+2 More
Design & UX

Reducing cognitive load in WonderBook’s early UX

In early tests, people stared at the screen and said 'I'm not sure what to type.' That changed everything about how I designed the interface.

20 Oct 2024•3 min
UXDesign+4 More
Design & UX

I Wanted the Homepage to Feel Magical, Not Like Another SaaS Landing Page

Every SaaS landing page looks the same. Hero section, three features, pricing table, done. I wanted something that didn't feel like a template.

10 Oct 2024•4 min
UXDesign+4 More
Engineering & Architecture

Building Jobby

Everyone assumes I built Jobby because I got laid off. Wrong. The real reason nobody saw coming.

28 Sept 2024•4 min
AICareer+3 More
Exploration

Building My First AI Story Prototype

One month to build an AI storytelling platform. I learnt more from what broke than what worked.

22 Sept 2024•2 min
AINext.js+3 More
Design & UX

Refactoring How I See Design

One book changed everything about how I approach spacing, hierarchy, and why some designs just feel right. Turns out structure beats guesswork every time.

15 Sept 2024•2 min
DesignUI+1 More
Exploration

Can AI Help Tell Stories Without Becoming the Main Character?

AI can write. That was never the question. Whether it should is what nobody wants to ask.

5 Sept 2024•2 min
AIStorytelling+2 More
Foundations

What Happened When I Realised I’m Not the Only Developer on Earth

Spent years building alone. Thought I had it figured out. Joining a team taught me I didn't know half of what I thought I did.

25 Aug 2024•4 min
JourneyEngineering+2 More
Career & Growth

From Builder to Systems Thinker

I used to solve problems fast. Then I learnt to think in systems and realised speed without direction is utterly pointless.

18 Aug 2024•2 min
SystemsDevelopment+2 More
Foundations

One Script Saved Me Two Hours and Made Me Addicted to Automation

One script turned two hours of daily work into two minutes. After that, I couldn't stop.

10 Aug 2024•5 min
JourneyAutomation+2 More
Foundations

I Was Making Money But Still Failing. Here’s Why

I was earning $900 a week from my kitchen. Every business I built still hit the same wall. Making money and building something that lasts are not the same thing.

2 Aug 2024•6 min
JourneyEntrepreneurship+1 More
Foundations

Fluffy Duck

In 2003, an accountant called me a fluffy duck. That insult stuck with me longer than any compliment ever did.

26 Jul 2024•3 min
JourneyEntrepreneurship+1 More
Foundations

Making Things Work in Aotearoa

Couldn't get hired at a supermarket. Turns out getting rejected was the best thing that could have happened.

18 Jul 2024•6 min
ReflectionMindset+1 More
Foundations

Welcome

Most of what I've learned has never been written down. This is where that changes.

10 Jul 2024•2 min
ReflectionCareer+2 More

© 2026 Dana Iti

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