I went with a similar approach in my last position.

Forming cross-functional/departmental teams on the product level or, for complex products, along the customer journey, is a good way to start shifting out of functional silo thinking.

And I agree: Ensuring “horizontal” alignment is critical.

🏆 We might win the kinds of rapid communication, seamless collaboration, and swift adaptation we witness in a great soccer match.

Would love to hear about your thoughts and experiences with cross-functional collaboration vs. departmental segregation.

🧩 In sports, it seems absurd, yet in business, we often fragment our organizations into departments each covering only parts of the game.

Can we build better organizations based on cross-functional teams, each playing one game at a time with clear goals on a defined playing field?

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigsmith/2023/04/27/bardeen-the-superglue-in-a-workflow-full-of-productivity-apps/

Specialized models and protocols for delegating and delivering on intent would be the new apps.

Apps these days mostly provide highly-specialized interfaces for providing intent and context “manually”, and delivering results.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see such interfaces become more and more obsolete in favor of system-specific, unified, and smart UI systems.

I’d argue that apps don’t drive innovation but, so far, simply were the most accessible vehicle to bring it to the consumer.

In the scenario described, the dependency on “someone building an app for that” would be resolved. Individual and shared needs could become the actual drivers of innovation.