1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?

I’m Hafiz Rahman, a Melbourne-based technology leader, author, and Co-founder and CEO of Devizur. I’ve spent 28 years in technology, including senior engineering and data leadership roles.

Much of my career has involved bringing technical and business perspectives together. An engineer might focus on how a system works, while a business leader wants to understand which problem it solves and what difference it will make. Helping people connect those perspectives became an important part of my work.

Writing grew from wanting to share those lessons beyond the teams I worked with. I wanted to make them accessible to people stepping into leadership, students preparing for their careers, and experienced professionals facing familiar challenges.

2) What inspired you to write your book?

During my career, I’ve seen highly capable technical experts build impressive solutions that ultimately failed to deliver their intended business outcomes. Often, the missing skills involved deciding which problem mattered, understanding business priorities, involving the right people, and turning information into action.

I also saw organizations invest heavily in data platforms and dashboards while their teams continued to disagree about basic numbers. A meeting could become a debate about whose report was correct instead of a discussion about what to do next.

Those experiences inspired Decision System. I wanted to help readers connect technical capability with the judgment needed to make it useful. Aspiring leaders and students are an important audience because developing those skills early can change how they approach their work throughout their careers.

The book follows two composite companies, a subscription app and a multi-site venue operator, to show these challenges through practical situations and decisions.

3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope readers recognize that better decisions require a system people can trust, understand, and take responsibility for.

The book introduces a six-layer framework: trust, coherence, access, ownership, value, and operating the system. These layers connect reliable information, shared definitions, access to evidence, clear responsibilities, and meaningful business outcomes.

Together, they form a decision-making and governance framework. Governance becomes part of everyday work: people understand what a number means, who is responsible for it, which decisions it supports, and how to assess the results.

Continuous improvement is central to the framework. After making a decision, you examine what happened, compare it with what you expected, and apply that learning. You also improve the system itself as circumstances change.

Whether someone leads a company, builds data solutions, or is preparing for their first professional role, I want them to see how their work connects to a decision, an action, and an outcome, and how that connection can improve over time.

4) What drew you into this particular genre?

Business nonfiction gave me a way to bring together technology, leadership, and the practical realities of running an organization.

I’m interested in the space between knowing how to build something and knowing how to make it useful. Technical professionals can face that challenge when moving into leadership. Business leaders encounter it when trying to understand what their technology investments should deliver.

I wanted to write a book both groups could engage with, while also giving students a bridge between classroom knowledge and workplace judgment. That meant using clear language, practical examples, and situations readers could recognize.

The genre appealed to me because a useful idea can influence what someone does in their next meeting or how they approach their next project.

5) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?

LinkedIn has been particularly helpful because many of the people I wrote the book for are there: business leaders, technology and data professionals, educators, and people developing their careers.

My professional network played an important role in introducing the book to its early readers. The most useful conversations have often started with a shared experience, such as conflicting reports, unclear ownership, or good technical work that never led to meaningful change.

Those conversations help me understand what resonates with readers. They also give people a sense of why I wrote the book and how it might relate to their own work.

6) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?

Start by understanding who you want to help and what you want them to gain from your book. That gives you something concrete to return to when deciding what belongs in the manuscript.

For nonfiction writers, pay attention to the questions people repeatedly ask you. Experience can make useful knowledge feel ordinary. Something you take for granted may be exactly what another person needs explained.

Use examples to test your ideas. If you cannot show how an idea works in a recognizable situation, you may need to think it through further.

Seek honest feedback from people who represent your intended readers, and take editing seriously. Give yourself time to build relationships with readers, too. Writing the book and helping people discover it both require sustained effort.

7) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?

I’m working on my next book, Full Stack Life, which explores personal growth and career development through a diagnostic approach. It looks at how different parts of our lives interact and how we can identify where a change would make a meaningful difference.

Alongside writing, I’m building Devizur. We help Australian businesses build data-driven decision systems, putting many of the ideas in Decision System into practice. We’re also developing an AI-first, end-to-end solution for the hospitality and entertainment industries.

I’d also like to see Decision System used by students and educators. Technical education gives people essential tools; opportunities to practice business judgment help them understand when and why to use those tools. The book’s framework and cases can support those discussions.

Across these projects, my interest is consistent: helping people understand their situation, make informed decisions, and learn from the results.

Author bio

Hafiz Rahman is a Melbourne-based technology leader and author with 28 years of experience, including senior engineering and data leadership roles. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Devizur, helping Australian businesses build data-driven decision systems and developing an AI-first, end-to-end solution for the hospitality and entertainment industries.

His book, Decision System: How Companies Turn Trusted Data into Decisions That Change Outcomes, introduces a six-layer framework for decision-making, governance, and continuous improvement. It helps business leaders, technical professionals, aspiring leaders, and students connect technical capability with meaningful business outcomes.

Author website: devizurpress.com

Devizur: devizur.com