Erkang Zheng

9 articles

Erkang Zheng is the Founder and CEO of Ariso. Before starting Ariso, he founded JupiterOne, and worked on security and infrastructure at several leading technology companies.

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Product Reviews

The Best AI-Native Project Management Tools in 2026

Every project management tool shipped agents this year, so "AI-powered" stopped meaning anything — most of it is a chat window bolted onto a backlog humans still maintain by hand. Six questions that actually separate them: who creates the ticket, who closes it, whether the work rolls up on its own, whether it knows which strategic initiative it serves, whether it reads your other systems, and whether it warns you before things slip. Scored across Asana, monday.com, Jira, Linear, ClickUp, Notion, Motion and Ariso.

AriAug 17, 2026 · 11 min read

The most important lesson of my career

The Hardest Thing About Work Isn't the Work

Early in my career, a mentor gave me a simple system: tell people what you're going to do, do it, then tell people you did it. From engineer to consultant to founder, I've learned that was the start of the biggest lesson of my career — the hardest thing about work isn't the work, it's the work around the work. Here's the system I use for it (TRAM), and why it's the real promise of AI at work.

Erkang ZhengJul 9, 2026 · 7 min read

Better learning. Better work. Better people: SciSummary Joins Ariso

A year of building together made it obvious. Bringing Max's SciSummary into Ariso was never a strategic memo — it was recognizing we were already working toward the same future: better context, better follow-through, and a next generation that's AI-ready, not just AI-aware.

Erkang ZhengJun 22, 2026 · 3 min read

The Trillion-Dollar Tax No One Pays: What Team Misalignment Really Costs Your Company

Every company has it. Most leaders underestimate it. And almost no one books it as a line item. Gallup measures it in trillions. Bain measures it in days per week. Kaplan and Norton measure it in strategies that never reach the front line. Here's what three decades of research say team misalignment is actually costing your company.

Erkang ZhengMay 12, 2026 · 9 min read

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Erkang Zheng

The Best AI-Native Project Management Tools in 2026

The Hardest Thing About Work Isn't the Work

Better learning. Better work. Better people: SciSummary Joins Ariso

The Trillion-Dollar Tax No One Pays: What Team Misalignment Really Costs Your Company

You Have a Notetaker. So Why Are Things Still Falling Through the Cracks?

When Markets Move and You Don't: Stuck Isn't Talent, It's Your OS

How I automate a founder's QBR and investor updates (without losing the plot)

Teaching Doesn't Change People; Understanding Does

Building Trust in AI Companions: Why Security Comes First