The DRI Effect: Solving for user problems in low latency

When we founded Sybill, our engineering team was just a handful of people wearing multiple hats. As we've grown to 15 engineers, I've become increasingly convinced that how we structure our team impacts not just our internal operations, but directly shapes the experience of the sales professionals who use our product every day.

I want to share our approach to building and organizing our engineering team, which creates a rare win-win — better outcomes for our users and a more fulfilling environment for our engineers.

Beyond Traditional Engineering Structures

In my conversations with other CTOs, I discovered that many companies organize engineering teams into specialized functional groups or product-aligned pods. While these models have their merits, I was concerned they might create handoff friction and distance engineers from the real-world impact of their work.

We needed a structure that would:

1. Keep engineers connected to user problems
2. Minimize communication overhead
3. Enable rapid iteration based on feedback
4. Allow for deep ownership of outcomes

The solution we landed on combines two powerful concepts: the Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) model pioneered by Steve Jobs at Apple, and a relentless focus on hiring high-agency engineers.

The Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) Model: Clear Ownership Drives Results

In our version of the DRI model:

• Every significant user need or product area has a single engineer who owns it end-to-end
• DRIs are fully empowered to make decisions in their domain
• They're accountable for outcomes, not just shipping features
• DRIs can pull in resources from across the team as needed

For users, this creates a direct line between their needs and the people who can address them. Feedback doesn't get lost in translation or diluted through layers of management.

For engineers, it creates meaningful ownership and the ability to see their work through from concept to impact. They're not just implementing specifications; they're solving real problems for real people.

High-Agency Engineering: Thinking Like Founders

In parallel with implementing the DRI model, we noticed something interesting in our hiring: we began attracting engineers who had previously been founders or early employees at startups. These engineers shared a common trait: high agency. They didn't just write code; they identified problems, proposed solutions, and took initiative to implement them.

This combination of high-agency engineers and the DRI model created a powerful dynamic.

Real Examples, Real Impact

Let me share two examples that illustrate this approach in action:

Example 1: From 20 Minutes to 2 Minutes

The problem: Sales reps reported that post-call summaries were taking up to 20 minutes to generate — frustrating when you're rushing between meetings and need insights quickly.

The DRI approach: Instead of creating a ticket that would bounce between teams, Abhishek, one of our founding engineers, took complete ownership. After hearing about the orchestration platform Temporal during our design hours, he volunteered to explore it further.

Without being explicitly assigned or managed, he:

• Built a prototype integration
• Led implementation across our AI processing workflows
• Optimized the entire pipeline

The result: Summary generation time dropped from 20 minutes to under 2 minutes.

For users: A dramatic improvement in a critical workflow that directly impacts productivity.

For Abhishek: The satisfaction of owning a significant technical challenge and seeing its direct impact on users.

Example 2: Eliminating UI Regressions

The problem: As a side effect of releasing changes almost daily, we were ending up with occasional UI glitches that were sometimes unrelated regressions.

The DRI approach: Daniele, one of our rockstar frontend engineers, took ownership of this pain point. Rather than waiting for a formal quality initiative, he investigated Playwright-based visual testing, built a proof of concept, and implemented it across our codebase.

The result: A 90% reduction in visual defects reaching production.

For users: More reliable demos and a more professional experience when showcasing the product.

For Daniele: The opportunity to solve a meaningful problem end-to-end and positively impact the user experience.

The Engineering Environment This Creates

This approach has created an engineering environment with several distinctive characteristics:

1. Deep connection to user impact: Engineers regularly join sales calls and customer conversations, not as passive observers but as problem solvers looking for opportunities
2. Technical autonomy with purpose: Engineers have significant freedom in how they solve problems, but that freedom is anchored in delivering outcomes that matter to users
3. Cross-functional capabilities: While everyone has areas of expertise, the DRI model encourages engineers to develop skills across the stack to own problems end-to-end
4. Innovation without bureaucracy: New ideas don't need to navigate approval chains; engineers are empowered to test approaches and implement solutions

For engineers who thrive on ownership, impact, and technical challenges, this creates an unusually fulfilling environment. As one team member recently put it: "I've never worked somewhere where the path from identifying a problem to implementing a solution was so direct."

Measurable Results for Everyone

The impact of this approach is evident in metrics that matter to both users and engineers:

• 85% reduction in time from user feedback to implemented solution
• 10x improvement in processing speed for key workflows
• 90% decrease in UI-related issues during customer demos
• Significantly higher retention of engineering talent compared to industry averages

Balancing Responsibility and Freedom

This model isn't without challenges. The freedom to innovate must be balanced with the responsibility to deliver on commitments. We maintain this balance through:

• Regular retrospectives that evaluate both user impact and technical implementation
• Transparent prioritization that ensures critical work doesn't get overlooked
• A culture that celebrates both innovation and reliability

Each quarter, as we review our progress, it’s impressive how our structure has allowed us to move swiftly while upholding quality. More importantly, it has fostered an environment where talented individuals can perform their best work to address real problems.

If you find that the core value of “Founder's Mentality” resonates with you, keep an eye out for an upcoming article discussing our other core values!

If you're a sales professional who would benefit from a tool built with this level of care and responsiveness, try Sybill today for Free at www.sybill.ai; or if you are a high-agency engineer who wants to have direct impact on real user problems, I'd love to connect. Visit sybill.ai/careers to learn more about joining our team.