Experience and systems thinking
Nearly 20 years across engineering, product, entrepreneurship, and leadership help me connect business stakes with what is actually happening on the ground.
My CTO / CTPO approach
Diagnose friction. Clarify decisions. Transform with the teams.
Transformation that does not end in a report
I step in when growth, complexity, or a change in direction makes responsibilities, priorities, and execution harder to navigate. My role is not to impose a standard playbook. It is to understand the real operating system, identify the few levers that matter, and build a clearer framework with the teams. This approach also relies on people-centered leadership: communicate directly, combine trust with high standards, and progressively transfer decision-making capability instead of creating consultant dependency.
A concrete example on video
In this video, I describe a scale-up that was producing code without consistently shipping its highest-priority features, and the choices that helped restore delivery flow.
Malt Strategy testimonial
Xavier Barry presentation · CTO / CTPO & interim leader
From diagnosis to autonomy: three complementary stages
The format changes with the context, but the path remains consistent: understand before prescribing, address root causes, and make the change stick.
- Understand the real operating system
Listen to executives, managers, and teams to compare perspectives.
Connect visible symptoms to organizational, product, or technical root causes.
- Clarify choices and the operating framework
Make priorities, responsibilities, and decision paths explicit.
Build an action plan proportionate to the stakes, resources, and maturity of the organization.
- Transform with the teams
Implement changes close to the work, with management and the teams.
Measure effects, adjust, and transfer the methods so the organization can operate independently.
Case in point: restoring delivery flow
In one scale-up, developers were producing code, but priority features were struggling to reach production. The issue was not a lack of effort: too many initiatives were open at once, priorities kept shifting, and the decision path was unclear.
What I put in place:
- A prioritization forum bringing the right stakeholders together around a limited number of strategic topics.
- A focus-based operating rule: finish and release before opening new workstreams.
Outcomes:
- Teams regained clearer priorities and greater autonomy.
- Developer satisfaction improved.
- Production releases returned to a steady rhythm, removing the original blockage.
What makes this approach effective
Three strengths help me move quickly from understanding the problem to change that teams genuinely adopt.
An outside view grounded in context
I challenge assumptions without forcing a prebuilt model, so decisions are understood and supported by the people who will carry them.
Execution and capability transfer
I do not stop at recommendations: I support implementation and transfer the methods so progress continues after the engagement ends.
Malt Strategy: what makes an interim engagement work
In this short testimonial, I highlight three simple but decisive conditions: direct communication, observable goals, and a genuinely shared action plan.
Does your organization need to regain traction?
You lead a startup or scale-up and are seeing:
- Priorities changing faster than the team can deliver
- Responsibilities or decisions becoming difficult to navigate
- Execution slowing down despite strong team commitment
At the intersection of product, engineering, and organization
With nearly 20 years of experience as an engineer, entrepreneur, CTO / CTPO, Transformation Lead, and coach, I work where technical, product, people, and business issues can no longer be addressed separately. I combine strategic perspective, operational understanding, and change leadership to help organizations make clearer decisions and execute sustainably.
I had the opportunity to work with Xavier on the development of a B2B platform project.
Xavier combines an excellent product approach with the business dimension. He is very pragmatic and always questions whether our choices are relevant for the user experience.
My operating principles
Transparency in the diagnosis, high standards for outcomes, respect for people, and a deliberate transfer of autonomy: transformation should improve both organizational performance and the teams’ ability to succeed without lasting dependency.
