Chris Dhanaraj
@chrisdhanaraj.bsky.social
PM @ Netflix (UI Platform & Design Systems), ostensibly figuring out a better way to build UI applications. Former UI Engineer, used to co-host a podcast called Toolsday.
(Also hello again BlueSky, maybe I'll start being a PM thought leader or some garbage like that)
July 17, 2025 at 6:38 PM
(Also hello again BlueSky, maybe I'll start being a PM thought leader or some garbage like that)
My less than hot take is that there's a pretty significant difference between engineers using AI to write code and PM's using AI to write PRDs. A user of an application at the end of the day has no idea of the code behind an app, just the quality of the application.
July 17, 2025 at 6:37 PM
My less than hot take is that there's a pretty significant difference between engineers using AI to write code and PM's using AI to write PRDs. A user of an application at the end of the day has no idea of the code behind an app, just the quality of the application.
Attempted to buy a Fujifilm XT-5 from Amazon, got sent a literal box with a rock inside of it instead and now am having to repeatedly explain to Amazon that… I cannot return the time because all I have is a box with a rock.
April 15, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Attempted to buy a Fujifilm XT-5 from Amazon, got sent a literal box with a rock inside of it instead and now am having to repeatedly explain to Amazon that… I cannot return the time because all I have is a box with a rock.
I love Arc, but… man that battery drain is untenable :( all I really want from browsers is the URL copy shortcut and the left-hand sidebar
April 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I love Arc, but… man that battery drain is untenable :( all I really want from browsers is the URL copy shortcut and the left-hand sidebar
But also seriously, live tennis is such a different experience. It was amazing to hear the crowd all get entirely enamored with Watanuki's playstyle together
March 10, 2025 at 5:26 AM
But also seriously, live tennis is such a different experience. It was amazing to hear the crowd all get entirely enamored with Watanuki's playstyle together
If Watanuki has a million fans, I am one of them. If Watanuki has ten fans, I am one of them. If Watanuki has only one fan, that one is me. If Watanuki has no fans, I am no longer on this earth. #indianwells
March 10, 2025 at 4:03 AM
If Watanuki has a million fans, I am one of them. If Watanuki has ten fans, I am one of them. If Watanuki has only one fan, that one is me. If Watanuki has no fans, I am no longer on this earth. #indianwells
This has been the most exhausting last three weeks of work in a while - my brain is tired and my body is ready for a week of naps.
I did write a lot of great design system memos though, so there's that
I did write a lot of great design system memos though, so there's that
January 26, 2025 at 1:31 AM
This has been the most exhausting last three weeks of work in a while - my brain is tired and my body is ready for a week of naps.
I did write a lot of great design system memos though, so there's that
I did write a lot of great design system memos though, so there's that
If ESPN could stop airing Wolf Man trailers during the Australian Open, that would be great thanks
January 18, 2025 at 3:16 AM
If ESPN could stop airing Wolf Man trailers during the Australian Open, that would be great thanks
Someone tell me why ATL is consistently the worst airport
December 21, 2024 at 11:04 PM
Someone tell me why ATL is consistently the worst airport
Okay but now what do I do until Stormlight book six??? (just finished five)
December 14, 2024 at 11:21 PM
Okay but now what do I do until Stormlight book six??? (just finished five)
They've figured it out
December 10, 2024 at 8:40 PM
They've figured it out
Reposted by Chris Dhanaraj
Re: burnout - I know you've all heard this before, but oh wow is it important to implement *some* kind of physical practice into your life. Near daily tennis has done wonders on keeping me mentally grounded when work is stressful
December 6, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Re: burnout - I know you've all heard this before, but oh wow is it important to implement *some* kind of physical practice into your life. Near daily tennis has done wonders on keeping me mentally grounded when work is stressful
My burnout is immeasurable and I am ready to go turn off my brain for a few weeks. Two weeeeks left
December 3, 2024 at 8:45 PM
My burnout is immeasurable and I am ready to go turn off my brain for a few weeks. Two weeeeks left
Oh no
Post an Onion headline that lives in your head rent-free.
December 2, 2024 at 4:23 PM
Oh no
Obligatorily Thanksgiving plate, powered by Serious Eats.
Also mashed potatoes prep is made SO easy with the Anyday dishes, highly recommend
Also mashed potatoes prep is made SO easy with the Anyday dishes, highly recommend
November 29, 2024 at 2:35 AM
Obligatorily Thanksgiving plate, powered by Serious Eats.
Also mashed potatoes prep is made SO easy with the Anyday dishes, highly recommend
Also mashed potatoes prep is made SO easy with the Anyday dishes, highly recommend
I know when I play poorly against pushers in tennis the problem is actually me, but god DAMN is it infuriating
November 27, 2024 at 8:09 PM
I know when I play poorly against pushers in tennis the problem is actually me, but god DAMN is it infuriating
This is already happening at some levels - I've gotten asked by eng leadership multiple times in the last two months around where AI fits into our roadmaps. And this is at the developer productivity angle, versus product where they're even further ahead on this
replace ai with databases or react or something already mainstream. doesn’t matter weather you use it regularly or not, or like/hate it, or have expertise, but you should know the space well enough to pattern match it to problems. Thats our job as technologists.
November 26, 2024 at 7:39 PM
This is already happening at some levels - I've gotten asked by eng leadership multiple times in the last two months around where AI fits into our roadmaps. And this is at the developer productivity angle, versus product where they're even further ahead on this
Spent a solid two to three hours trying to ChatGPT / Reddit a Notion formula question before just reading the docs and figuring it out in fifteen minutes. A big ole whoops from me (the AIs haven't come for me yet!)
November 25, 2024 at 5:57 PM
Spent a solid two to three hours trying to ChatGPT / Reddit a Notion formula question before just reading the docs and figuring it out in fifteen minutes. A big ole whoops from me (the AIs haven't come for me yet!)
We’re leveraging Notion as a CRM + Database for this tennis community app I’m building and… its honestly been delightful. One of the requirements was that manual entry had to be easy to do for a non-technical person, and working with Notion API has been pretty straight-forward.
November 24, 2024 at 8:54 PM
We’re leveraging Notion as a CRM + Database for this tennis community app I’m building and… its honestly been delightful. One of the requirements was that manual entry had to be easy to do for a non-technical person, and working with Notion API has been pretty straight-forward.
I’ll say I’m a little surprised there aren’t more tutorials out there around modeling User data with Prisma / Supabase + Clerk / Auth0 / something out there. It *feels* like this is just a hard requirement for most applications, and nobody wants to stick all their data into Clerk, right?
November 22, 2024 at 11:17 PM
I’ll say I’m a little surprised there aren’t more tutorials out there around modeling User data with Prisma / Supabase + Clerk / Auth0 / something out there. It *feels* like this is just a hard requirement for most applications, and nobody wants to stick all their data into Clerk, right?
Also my cats are trying to figure out how to share this
November 21, 2024 at 6:36 PM
Also my cats are trying to figure out how to share this
More lukewarm takes from me - your internal design systems (probably) should be building on top of React Aria or something similar. You probably aren’t resourced where you can cover the same level of expertise, and it’s a better use of your time to invest in business-specific component compositions
New React Aria release! 📢
🪗 Disclosure + Accordion GA
🔎 Ctrl F in DisclosureGroup
☎️ New ToggleButtonGroup component
✅ Mixed selection and actions in Menu
💬 Complex Menu popovers
❌ Dialog close button slot
🍾 Full TS strict compliance
react-spectrum.adobe.com/releases/202...
🪗 Disclosure + Accordion GA
🔎 Ctrl F in DisclosureGroup
☎️ New ToggleButtonGroup component
✅ Mixed selection and actions in Menu
💬 Complex Menu popovers
❌ Dialog close button slot
🍾 Full TS strict compliance
react-spectrum.adobe.com/releases/202...
November 21, 2024 at 6:27 PM
More lukewarm takes from me - your internal design systems (probably) should be building on top of React Aria or something similar. You probably aren’t resourced where you can cover the same level of expertise, and it’s a better use of your time to invest in business-specific component compositions
I know everybody is saying this, but *wow* what a world of difference my BlueSky feed is versus Twitter. Mindblowing how bad it is over there
November 21, 2024 at 1:03 AM
I know everybody is saying this, but *wow* what a world of difference my BlueSky feed is versus Twitter. Mindblowing how bad it is over there
Hot DAMN my cat is actually using one of the weird things I bought her
November 20, 2024 at 4:37 PM
Hot DAMN my cat is actually using one of the weird things I bought her