In this live episode of the Scaling Tech Podcast, host Arin Sime welcomed Ritavan, author of Data Impact: How Legacy Businesses Save, Leverage, Align, Simplify, Optimize, and Grow. As a seasoned data strategist, Ritavan helps traditional companies cut through the hype and unlock real business value through modern data practices.
They explore Ritavan’s SLASOG framework (Save, Leverage, Align, Simplify, Optimize, and Grow), a practical roadmap for data transformation and discuss how engineering teams can become more forward-facing and business-aligned.
Whether you lead in data, engineering, or product, this episode offers clear, actionable insights for making data a true driver of growth.
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About Our Guest
Name: Ritavan
What he does: He’s a data strategist with deep experience helping traditional companies modernize their data systems—not by chasing hype, but by creating real business value.
Where to find Ritavan: Website / LinkedIn
Key Insights
⚡Growth is the destination, and SLASOG is your map. Every business operates in its own unique environment, so you can’t copy someone’s path. What you can do is use proven frameworks like SLASOG to design your own roadmap by following its six principles. With it, you’re not operating blindly but navigating growth with purpose.
Ritavan says, “I’m not even giving you a map. What I’m trying to give you is the principles of map-making, which I want to be very clear about, since we’re among technical people. I don’t know your truth. Each one of us is operating in their own very contextualized environment. You need to think from first principle about your environment, meaning I cannot draw a map for your neighborhood; you need to draw a map for your own neighborhood. What I’m trying to give you is principles on how to draw a map. But I think if you draw a map, I think you will be much smarter than someone who’s trying to go around without the map, and that’s the spirit of all of this.”
⚡Why do most companies fail at data transformation? A major reason companies stumble in their data transformation efforts is falling into one of two extremes: either chasing scattered quick wins without a clear direction, or committing to massive multi-year plans that can’t keep pace with technology.
As Ritavan explains, “Everyone seems to agree that there are failures. That’s what’s happening. The question is, why are they happening? And like I said, the important thing is to understand what is the state of play and why are these two extremes taking place. […] So one extreme, the spray and pray approach assumes the world is constantly randomly changing, the other extreme assumes that it’s planable on such a long time horizon. And both of which don’t make sense, and especially since technology itself is changing at a much faster rate than, you know, than three to five years. So that’s, I think, a common problem that takes place and that just destroys so much value.”
⚡Empower and align is the true formula for success. Success isn’t just about working harder or having more resources. The real “magic” happens when individuals are both empowered to do their best and aligned toward a shared goal. Ritavan explains, “You realize very quickly, it’s not about the resources, it’s not about the effort you put in. It’s another kind of magic happening here, which is empowering the individuals but also aligning them, because if you only empower them, then you get some kind of chaos. So you want to empower them, but you want to align them, and you want the shared sense of purpose, vision, and all of that, and have it quantifiable. And if you do all of that correctly, and you’re playing to win then then we see that across sports, you have small teams, not well-funded teams, they go on to win Championships.”
Episode Highlights
Success needs a North Star.
When it comes to the data transformation journey, the key to success is simple but powerful: you need a clear North Star. Without a shared goal, teams risk confusing activity with progress. Arin asked, “Before we dive into this SLASOG framework a little bit more, do you have kind of a metric that you would recommend, as saying what is success?”
Ritavan explains, “For me, it’s really commercial success. That’s because at the end of the day, you need to have a clear North Star, you need to know why you’re in the game, because at the end of the day, it’s not a hobby. You’re not doing it because you enjoy doing it only, you’re doing it because you want to achieve a certain goal. So take sports, take the military, take whatever you want. In sports, if the team dynamics are not aligned to winning and winning, wherever the sport is, it can be scoring basket, shooting goals, but that is your North Star metric; otherwise, you shouldn’t play, right? The same in the military, if you’re not winning the battle or winning the war, there’s no point in getting up to fight. You might as well stay home or just give up.”
Chasing quick wins is a trap.
Quick wins are tempting, but they don’t create lasting value. Compounding does. True growth comes from strategies that build over time. As Ritavan explains, “You want something that makes sense, that allows you to grow, and that allows you to compound because the magic of compounding only takes place over longer periods. I can’t compound in one iteration. That does not make sense. And so if you even believe that a quick win exists, then by design, it cannot be something like compounds. So you want to find some mechanism that compounds because that’s how value creation happens. The quick-win thing does not work. Not even in running, right? If I said, ‘Arin, I’ll make you win the marathon, you’re going to sprint every 100 meters at your fastest possible speed,’ You’re like, ‘No, that’s not how marathon runners work, they pace themselves,’ right? So the idea is, this quick-win thing is dangerous. It’s the wrong frame of mind. It’s the wrong goal for a whole bunch of reasons.”
Transformation doesn’t happen overnight.
Transforming a legacy business isn’t about a sudden overhaul. It’s about building something new on top of what already exists. Ritavan explains, “In a highly competitive or regulated market, you cannot really survive and thrive and grow as a business unless you build up a new business model. And that’s why I also argue, you cannot transform a business in the sense that it’s not a caterpillar that’s going to suddenly become a butterfly. You have your traditional legacy business. Now ask yourself, how can you really build a data-driven business that kind of leverages it, but it’s different from it because Instacart it’s not like they’re data scientists that are driving bicycles and delivering stuff. These are different things, let’s not mix them up. Let’s not change things. You don’t have to do innovation theater everywhere.”