Interview with CEO of Timspark

SelectedFirms in an Exclusive Interview with Sergey Bondarev, CEO of Timspark

 

1.  Tell us a little bit about your company and how Timspark got started on this journey.

 

Timspark's business model stands on the traditional outsourcing ground of staff augmentation and dedicated teams. Still, we expand it with a bold perspective, introducing the innovative concept of Core Teams with specialized expertise.

 

The concept of creating a team-focused delivery model originated when I successfully completed a series of projects with innovative technology leaders. This made me realize the potential for cost savings and faster project completion. It seemed possible to apply this successful approach to other projects in various domains, which is how the idea was formed.

 

Afterward, I coined the term “unbreakable core teams.” Simply put, a Core Team operates as a separate unit, consisting of 2-5 seasoned professionals, a team leader, a business analyst, developers, and, in most cases, DevOps professionals as integral team members.

 

2. How do you lead Timspark as CEO, and what do you expect from your team?

 

Building and nurturing effective teams has played a crucial role in my career and remains one of my fundamental values and strategies.

 

Transferring and sharing culture, motivation, and goals from higher management to employees for business performance cannot be overrated. I firmly believe that teams are crucial in any field. If you build the right team and provide the necessary support, success is inevitable, regardless of the industry.

 

In an environment of respect and support, team members grow quickly and deliver value to customers and the company. In a cohesive team, any conflicts or disputes can be managed without disrupting the development process. Low turnover in a close-knit team made it even more stable. Ultimately, what we get from this approach are stable deliverables and the value provided to the customer.

 

3. What is the greatest achievement of Timspark so far?

 

We are still in the early stages of our journey. Yet, there are a couple of essential achievements I am excited to share.

 

One major milestone is partnering with a well-known outsourcing company that can meet our resource needs.

 

We have formed a skilled management team to lead our Delivery, Marketing, and Sales. We operate as a cohesive unit, united by shared values and goals, driving our organization toward success.

 

Most importantly, we have brought together exceptional teams in various technology fields and business sectors, poised to deliver outstanding results and value for our clients. Currently, our focus is on cultivating strong leadership within the teams and establishing strategic partnerships with customers. Ultimately, combining exceptional talent with effective management can yield remarkable outcomes.

 

4. What project management approach does Timspark follow for any software project?

 

At Timspark, we employ advanced project management approaches to provide high-quality, timely, and cost-effective services. Our preferred methods often involve Agile methodologies, DevOps practices, and cloud-native techniques.

 

We enhance Agile principles like transparency, flexibility, and collaboration within our teams. Depending on the customer’s needs and priorities, we implement either Scrum or Kanban methodologies for projects of any size or type.

 

We employ proven DevOps practices to achieve efficiency, quality, and faster delivery times. These include Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), automated testing, and application performance monitoring.

 

When developing cloud applications, we leverage cloud-native technologies, architecture patterns, and practices. This provides greater flexibility, scalability, and resilience in development. These approaches enable our customers to benefit from improved agility and faster time-to-market.

 

5. What gives  Timspark an edge over its rest of the competitors in the industry?

 

We are flexible and provide the engagement model that best suits the business requirements of each particular client.

 

Timspark offers outstaffing, dedicated teams, and team augmentation services. Additionally, we provide tailored software development through fully operational engineering teams (Core Teams). 

 

We implement various practices on business and management levels to inspire Core teams, which leads to a higher motivation and commitment among all team members. This results in exceptional work quality and faster delivery compared to traditional outsourcing models.

 

6. What are the key factors that Timspark considers before deciding on an software development platform?

 

There are several major factors we consider in terms of selecting a development platform for our clients. 

 

1. Development platform, architecture, frameworks, language, and tools the client uses.
2. How and to what extent the development framework functionality covers the client's business needs.
3. Cost-efficiency of the potential platform/framework/library, in particular:
       - whether it is possible to cover needs by open source tools and frameworks and save money on licensing
       - ease of customization — the  no need for extra extensive efforts on development, extension, or customization using this platform 
       - the platform or library is evolving and well supported by vendors or the community — we will be backed up with new updates, including fixes and features, without effort
       - stability — ideally, there is no need to spend efforts on the platform's bug fixes by ourselves
       - availability of in-house developers and specialists on the market — spending money on overpriced resources and waiting for the start of the development process is not feasible
4. Large ecosystem and community around the platform or framework. It will allow us to manage the incoming client's needs and development challenges faster.

 

7. How do you see future technologies driving growth and innovation in the coming years?

 

At the start of the current year, I analyzed a dozen expert development resources (like GitHub, Stack Overflow, etc.) and leading consultants in the field (like McKinsey, Deloitte, Gartner, and others) to see what tech trends might have a long-term perspective for the business. Overall, it was possible to identify 65 rising tech trends. Yet, if to narrow down the list to the most influential ones, I would name the following:

 

Moving to cloud
AI 
Data management 
Dev culture and management 
xTech

 

Companies must remain agile and flexible by adapting to the latest technology and commercial trends. They are improving the products’ time-to-market, as they require less involvement in coding and speed up the testing process.

 

In the ever-changing environment, a robust technological infrastructure is what businesses need. By embracing tech trends, companies can maintain their competitiveness and gain profit.

 

8. Given the recent buzz surrounding the term "ChatGPT," what are your thoughts??

 

If we talk about potential value in the future, AI will certainly play an important role and alter the way we operate as specialists, and even as humans. But does it provide value today? I would say, a little bit. And that will probably sound odd, because if you do some simple search on Google or if you visit a conference, you will spot AI everywhere.

 

We are on a hype train right now. A couple of years ago, the buzzword for possible investment was ‘security’. Now it’s all about AI. Everyone is striving to come up with a breakthrough AI-based solution. Yet in 99% of the cases are mostly rough-and-ready, ad hoc solutions or even prototyping — yet ready enough to market them or pitch for investment. As an industry, we didn't have enough time to elaborate on thorough solutions, which is more a fact than a judgemental opinion.

 

9. According to you, what are the most important factors in ensuring maximum client satisfaction?

 

First and foremost, we recognize that customers are human beings, and their satisfaction is crucial. Our vision goes beyond simply being an outsourcing company. We aspire to create an outsourcing platform that keeps all the benefits of a trusted company and foster an approach that helps us motivate teams and deliver exceptional quality for customers.

 

We establish, nurture, and develop teams of enthusiastic and driven engineers who do more than just write code and deploy software. They genuinely care about the value you gain from their work and are committed to your project’s success, going above and beyond to make it a reality.

 

10. You’ve been in this sphere for a long time, what is the final piece of advice you would like to give all entrepreneurs out there?

 

People are still over technologies and tools. Invest in people first. Best projects come to reality through the best tools, sales processes, or some advanced automation, but thanks to the best people and relationships between them. Best decisions are made taking data into account, but not exclusively — the unique people’s experience is what matters. Good teams are the company’s gems. Nurture and grow them.