Transitioning from Pirate to Navy Mode in Team Dynamics

In this episode we chat it up with Alvin Cho -
VP of Product and Engineering & Head of Developer Experiences, Digital Innovation & Transformation at Fiserv.

Alvin describes how he gets in the trenches with his team when it comes to big and new ideas; this time spent together carving out the problem and defining the right solution is akin to operating like a Pirate ship - deep water, small vessel and lots of holding hands.

This approach has lots of benefits, not the least of which is the osmosis effect on empowering knowledge transfer, and enabling his members to make independent decisions. This is important because Alvin needs to shift into operating like a well oiled Navy carrier where alignment is critical. Alvin can start to focus a bit more on narrative development and strategy, while his team keeps moving in the right direction but without the in trenches presence.