A few years ago, I read a book titled Harder than I Thought: Adventures of a Twenty-First Century Leader. The book tells the story of James Barton, who was appointed CEO of Santa Monica Aerospace (SMA).

Here are some takeaways from this book that are relevant to SaaS companies. When leading a company that delivers software services and digital products, having a technical background, like moving from a Senior Engineering Leader to the C-Level, gives an advantage in balancing business goals and development realities.

Manage the platform as a complex ecosystem, not a feature factory.
In software, the disconnect occurs when business and sales teams push for tight rollout schedules for new products, such as payment gateways or digital commerce tools, while neglecting the underlying system design. A leader with technical roots understands “technical debt.” We have to make the business side understand that software isn’t just an assembly line of isolated features. Whether we are migrating from a legacy system, stabilizing a new platform, or managing cutting-edge AI systems for product discovery, changing one piece of code affects the entire architecture. We bridge the gap by aligning product roadmaps with the real engineering capacity needed for a sustainable, scalable architecture.

Build agile transparency and kill the culture of silence.
In software development, hiding bad news leads to serious production failures, security issues, or failed launches. If mid-level managers filter out delays to keep stakeholders happy, the product eventually suffers. We need to replace command-and-control with psychological safety. Instead of monitoring a physical factory floor, this means engaging directly with developers, QA testers, and product managers during sprint reviews or post-mortems. By actively rewarding teams for raising concerns early, whether it’s an integration bug or a stabilization issue before a major release, we empower engineering talent to address problems proactively instead of dealing with them after deployment.

Madinah, 9 May 2026 (22 Dzulqa’dah 1447)