The Pattern
Two decades. 30+ companies. One pattern.
Sonatafy's leadership team has collectively built and scaled 30+ companies across two decades. The pattern that emerged from those experiences, including 20 failures, is that execution, not ideas, is what separates companies that ship from companies that spin.
Those lessons became the book Fail Hard, Win Big and the proprietary frameworks that power every Sonatafy engagement: the Ownership Gap, the Coordination Tax, the Backlog Illusion, and the AI Validation Gap. Each framework came from real delivery failures and the systems that emerged from fixing them.
The Software Leaders Uncensored podcast was created to pressure-test these patterns against the experience of 180+ CIOs, CTOs, and engineering leaders. Those conversations consistently confirmed the thesis: the teams that win are not the ones with the most engineers. They are the ones with the clearest ownership and the discipline to fix the delivery model, not just add headcount.
Fail Hard. Win Big.
By Steve Taplin
30+ companies started. 20 failed. 10 succeeded. The unfiltered playbook from a serial entrepreneur who learned that discipline beats talent, failure is fuel, and software is leverage.
Every chapter comes from something that happened, broke, or almost ended everything. The frameworks that emerged became the operating system Sonatafy now installs inside other companies.
The Backlog Illusion.
By Steve Taplin and Chris Horvat
A full backlog feels like progress. It almost never is. Drawn from 60+ delivery engagements and 195+ conversations with CIOs, CTOs, and engineering leaders, this book exposes the silent pattern behind teams that ship a lot of tickets and almost no outcomes.
The fix is not more engineers, more rituals, or a new tool. It is a rebuilt delivery model with clear ownership, fewer handoffs, and a backlog that reflects strategy instead of hiding from it.
Editions, Retailers, and Reviews
Publication details and what readers are saying
Publisher, ISBNs, available formats, retailer links, and verified reader reviews for both titles.
Fail Hard, Win Big
By Steve Taplin
The Backlog Illusion
By Steve Taplin and Chris Horvat
Software Leaders Uncensored
Real conversations with CIOs, CTOs, CEOs, and engineering leaders about what actually works in software delivery. Every episode surfaces a delivery pattern. Every pattern gets documented. No polished keynote talk. Just operators.
"The teams that win are not the ones with the most engineers. They are the ones with the clearest ownership and the discipline to fix the delivery model, not just add headcount."