Today, Mike is joined by Ivan Gekht a Siberian Aerospace Engineer and CEO of Gehtsoft, a custom software development powerhouse. For the past 20 years, he has delivered complex solutions for numerous industries. Ivan has led transformative projects at both startups and billion-dollar enterprises. He explains why, regardless of the industry you are in, developing and delivering products at speed is essential.

Ivan explains how the need to move at speed impacts the way you structure your business, go through development, deploy it, market it and more. Ivan covers using Agile, value stream mapping, decision making, creating a robust and sustainable team and much more.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Prioritize speed and the ability to solve problems quickly. If you can´t move fast, you will fail.
If it takes just a few days to create the product, then it takes 6 months to bring it to market, you lose.
Not using Agile well will slow you down. Using examples, Ivan explains how to fix that issue.
Use value stream mapping.
Take a holistic, value stream-based approach to identify and address bottlenecks. This approach improves efficiency by 30%.
Don´t end up with just a few go to people. If they leave, the project can fail.
Empower cross-functional teams and the product owner to make decisions.
You can´t 100% solve every problem, you just need to solve it enough to get to the next level and bring your product to market.
Be truly customer-centric
Often, asking 8 potential customers the question is enough to validate an idea.
Achieve sustainable performance by providing a safe, learning-oriented environment.
You need to learn to fail and do it safely.

BEST MOMENTS

00:38 "Slow teams don't just lose, they get wiped out."

10:17 "If you know exactly what needs to be done and the outcomes are predictable, you don't need Agile."

17:52 "The majority of the time is wasted not on doing the work the wrong way, but rather on doing the wrong work."

21:35 “They (the product owner) should be trusted … to make these decisions."

31:20 “Harvard Business Review reports that organizations using value stream mapping can identify bottlenecks that lead to 30% improvements in operational efficiency."

51:04 “It's not about perfection… it´s about making it good enough to hit the market … that's where you get the speed."

57.12 “For the user stories … your personal opinion doesn't matter. It's not about you, it's about the end user.”

1.05.30 “That emergent knowledge and emergent decisions come up through the teamwork process to be able to deal with the complexity.”

1.27.24 “Make sure that everything you work on brings value to the people who are paying for it and make sure to shorten time to market.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-gekht

https://www.gehtsoftusa.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Meet Mike, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and visionary with over two and a half decades of invaluable experience in founding and scaling successful tech start-ups. Mike brings a wealth of firsthand knowledge, and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and tech professionals.

As a host, Mike is dedicated to sharing actionable insights, strategies, and stories gathered from conversations with industry leaders, innovators, and experts. With a remarkable ability to distil practical wisdom from guests, Mike curates engaging discussions that resonate with both aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals.

Sustainable Speed is Essential to Avoiding Tech Project Failure with Ivan Gekht

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