About
About Grant Dai, his work, and what this site explores.
Build Better Systems. Think Longer-Term. Stay Human.
Iām Grant Dai, a software engineer and technical lead based in Tokyo.
Over the past decade, Iāve built large-scale systems at companies including Rakuten and Fast Retailingāfrom analytics infrastructure handling 300,000 requests per second to e-commerce platforms serving millions of users across global markets.
Today, I focus on the intersection of AI and software development: LLM-powered workflows, developer tooling, agent systems, and the ways engineers can build leverage without becoming overwhelmed by noise.
I write about software, AI, engineering, growth, and long-term thinking. Put another way, Iām interested in what comes next for engineers and the industryāand what we should preserve, learn, or reconsider as technology changes how we work.
Why this site exists
Important ideas rarely appear only when we sit down to write.
They emerge during project reviews, while reading, through conversations, or in the middle of an ordinary commute. Most begin as small observations. Only after they have been recorded, connected, challenged, and tested do some of them grow into more complete ideas.
I built this site to share useful lessons and ideas from my own growth. I hope they can become starting points for others: a spark for something new, a different way to frame a problem, or a possible path toward a solution.
This is not a showroom for finished achievements, nor is it a publication built around chasing every new technology trend. I care more about identifying the skills, systems, and ways of thinking that may still matter five or ten years from now.
How an idea becomes a post
My writing process usually moves through four stages:
Draft ā Notes ā Expanded Reading / Investigation ā Posts
A Draft is the earliest form of an idea. It may be one sentence, an unresolved question, or a judgment that still needs testing. Drafts usually remain private.
I use Supernote and reMarkable to capture thoughts while reading or moving through daily life. After editing and refinement, some of those thoughts become Notes on this site.
Notes are shortāusually anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred words or Chinese characters. They may come from books, engineering work, personal experience, or an unexpected connection between ideas. Each Note can stand on its own, but it is not always a final conclusion. Think of it as a useful point in an ideaās development: ready to share, yet still capable of growing.
When several Notes begin to converge on one question, I expand the work. I read more widely, investigate the surrounding context, verify claims, and sometimes build or test a solution myself. That process may eventually produce a Post.
Posts are long-form pieces, often exceeding 4,000 Chinese characters. Many combine several Notes with broader context, external research, structured arguments, and lessons from hands-on work. Everything published hereāNotes and Posts alikeāis edited carefully, but it is not frozen in time. I continue revising older work when my understanding changes or better evidence becomes available.
What I write about
Posts generally fall into three categories.
Story
Personal experiences, decisions, failures, and lessons.
I try to go beyond recounting what happened. I examine what others might reuse, what did not work, and what I would change if I faced the same situation again.
Technology
Software engineering, AI, agents, developer tools, and building reliable systems.
Some pieces are technical and practical; others examine changes happening across the industry. My aim is to help engineers find ideas for building products, improving workflows, and solving difficult engineering problems.
Growth
Learning, mental models, and long-term development.
These pieces include reflections from reading, shifts in how I understand a problem, and ways to help skills, systems, and life compound over time. They offer perspectives to explore, not universal formulas to follow.
How to read this site
If you are new here, start with Posts and choose whatever subject catches your attention. There is no required reading order.
For shorter thoughts and ideas still taking shape, browse Notes. They are published more frequently and sit closer to the moment when reading, experience, or curiosity first produces an idea.
From any page, you can continue through inline links, Tags, Categories, Recommended Reading, or Search. When a Note and a Post share a direct connection, I link them so you can move between a developed essay and the smaller ideas behind it.
I also share excerpts and summaries on social platforms, but the complete versions live here.
Subscribe to receive each new English Post in full shortly after publication. Notes remain on the website and RSS and may become a separate roundup later. New Notes and Posts are published when they are ready, and previously published work may continue to evolve.
Sources, experience, and revisions
Story pieces are primarily based on firsthand experience and personal records. When photographs, data, or other supporting material are available, I include them in the article.
When I refer to external articles, research, or other sources, you will find the relevant links at the bottom of each Post. I also try to keep facts, practical results, and personal judgments clearly distinguishable.
Publishing something does not make its conclusion permanent. When I find an error or better information becomes available, I revise the original work. Revision is not an attempt to erase earlier thinking; it is part of keeping public thinking closer to reality.
Stay in touch
This site is written primarily for technology professionals and lifelong learnersāand for anyone who wants to stay curious while solving meaningful problems.
If something here gives you the impulse to create, helps you see another possibility, or offers a useful clue for a problem you are facing, then this site has done its most important job.
From here, explore related ideas, subscribe to the Newsletter, or continue the conversation through the social platforms listed below. For ideas, questions, or collaboration, email me at contact@grant-dai.com.