Rocket Webinars 2025

Software design and seniority in the AI era – 12/2025

Much of development is about design, problem definition and making compromises, not just typing out lines of code.

Rakettitieteen consultants Edvard Majakari and Janne Suomalainen dive into what software design is in practice: how to scope a problem, how to make compromises consciously, and how a senior person reads risks from both the business and technical perspectives. AI is also discussed honestly – through both benefits and risks. LLMs can be an excellent sparring partner and idea generator, but responsibility for decisions, quality and understanding remains with people.

“It takes making mistakes to understand the consequences of mistakes.” – Janne, rocket scientist #55

Janne (left) and Ed (right) emphasise that although language models are trained on a huge amount of data, energy and computing, they do not learn in the same way as a human, who develops from every problem, conversation and mistake.

AI is a bit like a person who remembers everything they’ve ever heard, but doesn’t understand any of it.” – Ed, rocket scientist #20

If you want to understand what seniority is really about and where AI is useful, this webinar is for you: watch the recording.

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Recipe for building a strong culture – 11/2025

How do you build a company culture that is not just empty talk but shows up in everyday decisions and accelerates growth and competitiveness?

Marko Järvenpää (HRBP, Rightware) explains concretely how values are turned into tools, decision-making is made fast, and how ownership emerges at team level.

• Values into daily practice: Active Listening, Driving for Alignment and other practical tools.

• How does bottom-up planning increase commitment?

• Feedback that works: distinguish positive and critical feedback, give it immediately.

• Metrics before gut feel: data-driven leadership as an everyday routine.

• Red flags: how do you recognise when culture starts to erode? What should be done?

According to Marko (right), values are the code for how people should behave in the company. “But in the end, culture is formed by how people behave in their daily work. Especially management”, he emphasises.

If you missed the webinar, but are interested in building a functioning company culture (and why wouldn’t you be), watch the recording here!

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Who is steering this ship? – 9/2025

How should product development be led – and when is the right time to hire a product owner? We dived into the PO role with Readpeak’s founder Tomas Forsbäck.

A PO is expected to have an exceptional combination of expertise: understanding of technology, customer insight, mastery of the business model and a view of the market direction. And even if the background is solid, you still have to grow into the role – learn the company’s history, practices and priorities.

Tomas’s lessons:

✔️ As a founder, be deeply involved in product development yourself – only then will you learn what is needed from the PO.

✔️ Customer feedback must be used, but feedback that just says "copy the competitor" will not move the product forward.

✔️ Information must not be left in silos: communication between the team and management must flow as freely as coffee in morning meetings.

"The product vision ultimately always remains the founder’s responsibility.” – Tomas Forsbäck, CEO & Founder, Readpeak

Tomas (right) emphasises that one of the PO’s most important tasks is to assess which ideas truly move the business forward and are not just on the "nice to have" list. 

If you missed the webinar, but are interested in product development leadership and building the PO role (and why wouldn’t you be), watch the recording here!

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How is a remote organisation led? – 5/2025

According to Eero Jyske (VP of Engineering, Apheris), the biggest advantage of a remote organisation is scalability. When location does not limit recruitment, talent can be found for every role. But does remote work suit everyone?

1️⃣ Remote work is not a universal solution – the most important thing is to find a model that suits your organisation or team, without forgetting individuals: "People’s wellbeing is the most important thing. Remote work does not suit everyone, but for those it does suit, it suits them very well." 

2️⃣ A remote organisation scales and makes recruiting easier: “We find strong candidates for every role because we do not look at location and do not force anyone to move anywhere.” 🌐

3️⃣ Managing a remote team is easier than a hybrid one. "Hybrid brings its own challenges – if everyone is not in the same boat, information flow problems and unequal cliques easily arise.” 

Free tip for improving information flow: repetition is the mother of learning. Every company should have its own Chief Repetition Officer – at Apheris, Eero holds the title.

If you missed the webinar, but are interested in remote leadership (and why wouldn’t you be), watch the recording here!

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Why do so many software products end up half-baked? – 5/2025

Metrify’s Osma Ahvenlampi highlighted the pain points of Finnish software product development in May’s (first) Rocket Webinar and gave concrete advice on how to overcome them.

Too often product development is separate from the business, operating in its own bubble, even though without an understanding of the direction of the business and sales, product development easily does the wrong things.

1️⃣ "Business leadership cannot leave product development as something that happens in the lab. If you’re going to do product-based business, products must be part of business leadership”, Osma emphasises.

2️⃣ "Standardisation has two sides: technical and commercial. It is important to define what is being done and for whom”, he adds. 👉 An overly broad customer target group leads to a product that swells like dough.

“Productisation must begin before a single line of code has been written.” – Osma Ahvenlampi, Metrify

Juha and Osma noted that product development is not about building features. It is about understanding the customer’s problem, making the right choices and continuous discussion linked to the direction of the business. Otherwise, you end up with “solutions” that nobody needs – and, for that matter, nobody can sell.

If you missed the webinar, but are interested in building a functioning product development culture (and why wouldn’t you be), watch the recording here!

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Wellbeing at work is no longer a pink marshmallow – it is really at the heart of the business – 4/2025

Auntie’s CEO Immo Salonen and Raketin People & Culture Lead Tessi Reispakka spoke in April’s webinar for half an hour on hard facts about wellbeing at work and its effect on productivity – especially in the context of software development.

📈 How does wellbeing show in the results? The webinar put the facts on the table:

🟣 21 % higher productivity (HBR)

🟣 engagement increases, turnover decreases

🟣 the cost of a departing specialist: 50k–150k €

🟣 happy employees bring better recruitment candidates with them

“Prioritising employee wellbeing is not just a moral issue – it is a strategic investment in the company’s success and growth.” – Immo Salonen, CEO, Auntie

Immo and Tessi emphasised in the webinar that workplace wellbeing is not the responsibility of one person or, say, the management team. It is a shared matter for the whole organisation, and the earlier staff are supported – well before things hit the fan – the more means can be offered to improve wellbeing at work. 

If you missed the webinar, but are interested in the effect of wellbeing at work on productivity (and why wouldn’t you be), watch the recording on YouTube.

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How do you write code without bubbles? – 3/2025

“Diversity is a very essential part of the recipe for a winning team”, said Vaisala Xweather’s product director John Liljelund in the Rocket Webinar.

 John and Raketin Juha spoke for half an hour in March’s webinar about the importance of diversity in software development:

💥 Business first: John encourages people to think about what expertise is needed in order to succeed and thrive.

💥  Diversity is a competitive advantage: teams made up of cognitively different people solve problems more intelligently and understand end users better. 

💥 The team works, as long as the rules of the game are clear: difference brings discussion and that is a good thing, but without good leadership discussion does not turn into decisions.

When a team is diverse and the problem to be solved is complex, the pace picks up. And then it is not enough for the pace to fix the mistakes. According to John (right), the most important lesson in leading diverse teams is the playbook and the rules.

If you missed the webinar, but are interested in how a senior consultant helps teams succeed (and why wouldn’t you be), watch the recording on YouTube.

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How does a senior consultant help software teams succeed? – 2/2025

Here are the key lessons from February’s Rocket Webinar from Varjo’s Petri Lehtovirta:

 ✅ Objectivity: An external expert brings fresh perspectives to the team and helps make better decisions without internal political wrangling.

✅ Expertise: A senior consultant brings deep technical and strategic insight to the team, helps with risk management and supports decision-making.

✅ A culture of success: When goals are clear and decisions are made on time, teams can focus on what matters and deliver higher-quality software.

 💡 When you bring a consultant in, make sure right at the start what you expect from them. Do you need coding hands or a strategic sparring partner? The more clearly the role is defined, the more the whole team benefits.

"Don’t just buy a pair of hands, buy the whole consultant and make use of it from all 360 degrees.” – Petri Lehtovirta, Director Engineer, Varjo

An external consultant can bring objectivity without internal wrangling. They can say straight out if a project is too broad, under-resourced or otherwise challenging. And the consultant is not tied to the team’s old patterns, but can help identify what works – and what needs changing. “Sometimes the best decision is to say no –  and a consultant can be the one who dares to say it”, says Varjo’s Petri Lehtovirta (right).

If you missed the webinar, but are interested in how a senior consultant helps teams succeed (and why wouldn’t you be), watch the recording here.

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Did you know that ICT sector emissions already match those of aviation – and are still growing explosively?

In January’s Rocket Webinar, Satu Samira Hamed (Planet Diplomats, Sustinaires ry) challenged us all to think in a new way: “If software destroys the planet, can it truly be user-centric?

Planet-centred software development means that software design and digital service development take into account both the carrying capacity of the environment and the sustainability of humanity.

 The goal is no longer just "quick money", but:

🌱 minimise environmental impact,

🌱 use resources sustainably and according to circular economy principles, and

🌱 create value for both people and the planet.

Satu reminds us that wellbeing – not just user experience – must be prioritised at the centre of service development: “Every project could start with the question: how can we do this more responsibly?”

If you missed the webinar, but are interested in planetary software development (and why wouldn’t you be), you can watch the recording on YouTube.