What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
summary
1960s Soviet program wins early firsts but trades safety for speed: Zan 5 sends tortoises around the Moon (1968) and splashes down off‑target, Voskhod 2 puts Alexei Leonov outside for 12 minutes with suit overpressurization and decompression sickness, Sergey Korolev dies in 1966 leaving a power vacuum, then Soyuz‑1 launches with ~200 engineering faults and causes the first fatality. State propaganda times launches to anniversaries and hides failures; US NASA opts for slower, deliberate engineering (Gemini 4 Ed White 20‑minute EVA) and focuses on quality.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:12Soviet space program’s 1968 lead
- 3:44Why Soviets lost moon race
- 13:24Speed over quality in missions
- 18:38Redefining minimal viable products
- 23:54Dangers of superstar reliance
- 32:28Soviet propaganda in business
- 41:04US vs USSR development philosophies
- 45:23Speed and quality in engineering
- 55:22Learning from failure and openness
- 57:48Q&A
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