Summary
Mark Interrante, the SVP of Engineering at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, has an extensive history of building out design and product teams in technology. Listen as he shares tips and tools to improve collaboration between multi-disciplinary teams.
Key Insights
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Organizational silos often manifest as disconnected tasks that reflect the org chart rather than customer needs.
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Engaging UX experts like Jacob Nielsen and Cooper can surface hidden organizational and user experience problems.
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Listening directly to internal customers, such as call center agents, reveals critical usability issues ignored by siloed design teams.
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Mapping horizontal workflows helps identify bottlenecks and delays, where up to 90% of work time may be waiting rather than active effort.
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Creating explicit interfaces or 'APIs' between teams clarifies collaboration protocols and reduces friction between large functional groups.
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Assuming positive intent from colleagues across silos helps manage conflicts and encourages problem-solving over blame.
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Asking four simple outcome-focused goal questions uncovers the real problem behind requests, enabling better, cheaper, faster solutions.
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Writing concise, structured mini-proposals (side-pavs) accelerates decision-making by clarifying current situation, complication, position, action, and benefits.
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Small behavior and process improvements compound over time to transform team culture and productivity.
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Regularly 'writing the fences'—meetings to discuss boundaries between teams—increases trust and coordination across an organization.
Notable Quotes
"I just thought this was the way the world was going to work until a friend said, what is the customer want?"
"Jacob Nielsen said, I can tell your org chart just by walking through your design."
"Culture is what you tolerate, not just some aspirational statement."
"Assume positive intent from their point of view; they’re trying to have a good day, not to be against you."
"Up to 90% of the time in unoptimized workflows is spent waiting or in delay states."
"You have to version your workflow models because they evolve as you learn more."
"Sometimes the best place to improve throughput is not by adding people but by optimizing the current flow."
"Teams need an API — a clear protocol — for how others interact with them."
"Asking what larger outcome a request gets you reveals opportunities for creative alternatives."
"Side-pavs, a short structured proposal, turn vague asks into yesable actions."
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