This week the ProductIP IT team (where I work) had a very interesting meeting with the Regulatory Team. They trained us on the upcoming ESG regulations and the – already available, but apparently not widely known – Sustainable Development Goals, SDG.
Supply chain
We learned about the complete supply chain. From resource managers to designers of the product, to packaging and shipping partners. We played a role game in which each of us was assigned one role and had to fill in the Actions, Consequences and Datapoints for their part of the manufacturing process. It dawned on us that we, as programmers, had no idea the production chain was that large!
Speaking the same language
From a broader perspective, it also became clear that the two teams (Regulatory and IT), although being part of the same company, basically spoke two very different languages. The IT team wanted “hard” qualifications and data points to put into their database and code. While the Regulatory Team was much more involved with the subtleties of the various laws and regulations, which were a result of months of discussions and negotiations with all kinds of stakeholders.
Actually, we discovered that the discussion following the training was more about understanding each other and building bridges between our respective worlds than coming up with concrete solutions for buttons, windows and questionnaires for the ProductIP Platform.
Once again, communication is key! No matter how much you think “well, we work for the same company, surely we understand what colleagues are talking about, right?” Clearly, it’s not that simple.
Lessons learned
A big takeaway lesson was that teams need to keep talking to each other. And not be afraid to ask questions. Even within the same company.
