The Trio Model: Breaking Down Business-IT Walls for Better Engineering Collaboration

Engineering leaders learn how the Trio model can eliminate the blame game between business and IT teams. Discover practical strategies for cross-functional collaboration that actually work.The Trio Model: Breaking Down Business-IT WallsKey Topics CoveredThe Business-IT Dysfunction ProblemWhy blame games develop between business and IT teamsThe 'technical purgatory' of mid-sized companies (200-1000 employees)Common symptoms: endless backlogs, shadow IT solutions, demoralized engineersWhy Traditional Fixes FailHiring more managers: Adds abstraction without contextAdding more engineers: Brooks' Law in actionBetter ticketing systems: Makes misalignment visible but doesn't fix itMore meetings: Creates 'status theater' without decisionsThe Trio Model ExplainedThree core roles: Business owner, technical lead, designer/analyst/ops leadCo-ownership of outcomes, not just task handoffsClear decision rights to prevent gridlockNot a committee: Explicit authority assignmentImplementation StrategyWhich problems warrant a trio (high ambiguity, cross-functional dependencies)Decision rights frameworkShared metrics and accountabilityStarting with 1-2 pilot areasLeadership RequirementsStop bypassing trio processes with 'urgent' requestsProtect trio time and focusHold business owners accountable for outcomesAccept timeline realitiesKey Quotes"If every request is urgent, there's no way for IT to prioritize""Shared ownership of the outcome doesn't mean you can point at someone else when your part goes wrong""The trio owns it can quickly become no one owns it"Action ItemsIdentify 1-2 high-friction problem areasForm pilot trios with clear problem definitionsEstablish shared success metricsReview and iterate after one quarterChapters0:00 - The Business-IT Blame Game Problem1:56 - Life in Technical Purgatory5:29 - Why Traditional Fixes Don't Work10:09 - Introducing the Trio Model15:51 - Implementation and Decision Rights23:42 - Measuring Success with Shared Metrics24:50 - Leadership Changes Required29:25 - Getting Started: A Practical Approach

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