Domo Inovação

Rodrigo Cantelli is the CEO of Domo Inovação, focusing on driving business growth through technology, data driven strategy, and customer centric innovation. He leads digital transformation, product development, and high performance teams, delivering sustainable results across banking, finance, and emerging business models. Cantelli shared his expert insights for the upcoming edition of CIOReview

A few days ago, a colleague asked me to meet the global head of IT of his organization to discuss how to build high-performance teams.

I love these kinds of conversations for two reasons. First, they force me to pause and reflect. Second, when you sit with a senior leader from a different industry and background, with no hidden agenda, you always leave the table bigger than when you arrived.

This article is a summary of that reflection. It’s not a “framework” in the academic sense. It’s a set of principles I’ve seen in practice across different sectors and technology cycles that help IT teams perform at a consistently high level.

1. Context

I’ve been working in IT since the 1990s, and over these decades, one thing I learned: there is more than one way to get to Rome.

The way I approached replacing an ERP system in a transportation company was completely different from how I approached launching a new product in a bank, for example.

So, I don’t believe in a single “right” model. But I do believe that the most successful journeys have a few fundamentals in common. They are not magic. They are basic. And high-performing IT teams are, above all, great at doing the basics very well.

2. Foundations

2.1. Start With Users and Clients

I’ve worked in services, transportation, manufacturing, and banking. The more senior I became, the more one principle became obvious: if you lose the view of the user, everything else is just internal noise.

2.2. Business Perspective

Every member of the team, not just leaders, needs to understand how the company creates value. How does it make money? What drives loyalty? Where does it differentiate in the market?

This also creates a deeper sense of belonging. Most of us work in IT for a mix of reasons: compensation, the satisfaction of delivering results, and the chance to work with new technologies. But as leaders, we only give real purpose to the team when we can clearly explain how their work connects to the company’s goals and to customers’ lives.

2.3. Balance of Technical Skills

The right mix of capabilities is more important than individual brilliance.

2.4. Collaborative Culture Instead of Silos

Building a truly collaborative environment requires open, honest dialogue, not just formal status reports. When communication is real and frequent, three things improve at the same time: alignment, transparency, and speed.

2.5. Keep teams “Slim”

The answer to improving speed is not always to grow the team. Sometimes, adding more people simply increases coordination overhead, handoffs, and meetings, slowing delivery instead of accelerating it.

 The right mix of capabilities is more important than individual brilliance. 

Leaders should manage the following activities as part of their routine: identify bottlenecks, track productivity, remove waste, and invest in automation and better tools.

3. Principles That Work

3.1. Autonomy with Accountability

What does autonomy mean in this context? It means designing teams with all (or as many as possible) of the skills and capabilities required to deliver results end-to-end. To achieve this, it is important to bring all critical roles into the team, whether full-time or part-time.

It also means reducing dependence on other teams that do not share the same goals. Teams responsible for different systems should be architecturally decoupled so each can move at its own pace.

3.2. Multifunctional Squads

Complex problems demand multiple lenses. The most effective teams bring together people from: technology, business, risk or compliance and UX.

3.3. Minimizing System Coupling

Architecture and organization are two sides of the same coin.

If systems are tightly coupled, teams are forced to coordinate everything. Lead times increase, innovation slows, and incidents spread like a virus.

Loosely coupled systems with well-defined APIs and modular components enable teams to deploy independently and learn faster. This principle applies to teams as well: teams should be as decoupled as the systems they own.

3.4. Empowering Key Users

Involving key users, people closest to the process, in backlog prioritization and feature validation changes the game. It ensures IT is solving real problems, increases adoption, and builds trust.

3.5. Synchronizing the Pace

Mechanisms such as shared OKRs across squads, periodic planning, and regular alignment rituals help ensure teams move in the same direction. The goal is not to make everyone move at the same speed, but to keep them moving in a coherent direction and the warranty they have the right moment for integration.

4. Expanding the Horizon

4.1. Product Over Project

The shift from projects to products completely changes how we think about value.

Projects end when the scope is delivered. Products have a lifecycle: they are born, grow, mature, and sometimes are retired.

4.2. Measuring What Really Matters

High-performing IT organizations combine technical, business, and cultural dimensions in a simple, balanced view.

4.3. Platform Thinking

As organizations grow, duplication becomes a silent destroyer of efficiency.

Building shared platforms for: data, authentication, integration, etc, allows product teams to focus on what differentiates them in the eyes of the customer.

4.4. Talent and Learning as a System

If we don’t build learning into the system, we will always be behind.

In the end, the true competitive advantage of an IT organization is its learning speed.

4.5. From Execution to Co-Creation

The role of IT needs to shift from “order taker” to true co-creator of the business.

But for this to be sustainable, the points discussed earlier need to be in place.

5. Final Reflection

The organizations that will thrive are those whose IT teams don’t just deliver systems but deliver meaningful outcomes for clients, employees, and society.

I don’t pretend to have a universal model. What I have is a collection of experiences that keep pointing me back to the same basics.

Do the basics extremely well. Stay close to users. Connect technology to the business model. Build multidisciplinary teams. Create a culture of learning and safety. And never forget: behind every system is a human being using it.