“Being collaborative isn’t a personality trait,” Termeh Ahi, senior manager of business operations at AcuityMD, said. “It’s a standard you hold yourself to before you walk into the room,”
For Ahi’s team, that means tangible practices like scheduling follow-up meetings before hanging up on a call, or sending a meeting agenda at least a day in advance.
“Everyone in the room knows why they’re there, what we need from them and what happens after,” Ahi said.
Emily Dalo, a product manager at Definitive Healthcare, echoed this sentiment. She keeps cross-functional collaboration seamless by thoroughly understanding each team’s role throughout the product lifecycle and creating thoughtful touchpoints to maintain alignment.
“Each stage reinforces shared context in a different way, keeping teams coordinated, moving smoothly and planning for what’s next,” Dalo said.
Want to work somewhere where ‘collaboration’ isn’t just a buzzword? Built In spoke with Dalo and Ahi in detail about the habits that align functions and unblock work quickly at Boston tech companies AcuityMD and Definitive Healthcare.
Definitive Healthcare transforms data, analytics and expertise into healthcare commercial intelligence to help businesses grow.
What’s a quoteworthy habit that keeps cross-team work moving?
I’ve found that taking the time to deeply understand how each team operates — their goals, constraints and what success looks like for them — is what drives the best cross-team collaboration. That context makes conversations more productive and helps build trust. Just as important, I make sure every conversation ends with clarity; I reiterate the agreed‑upon next steps and explicitly name who is responsible for each one. When everyone leaves the room knowing exactly what’s coming next and who owns it, work moves faster, handoffs are cleaner and there’s far less room for confusion.
What metric proves it works?
From a product management perspective, the proof shows up in how efficiently insights move from concept to customer impact — measured by time‑to‑delivery, reduced rework and consistent roadmap execution. When teams understand each other’s goals and leave conversations with clear next steps and ownership, I find there is stronger feature adoption, shared understanding and more actionable customer feedback.
Which ritual keeps alignment fresh?
I believe alignment stays fresh through thoughtful and intentional touchpoints across the product development lifecycle — from cross‑functional discovery to demos, go‑to‑market execution and retros. Each stage reinforces shared context in a different way, keeping teams coordinated, moving smoothly and planning for what’s next!
AcuityMD’s intelligence platform is designed to help medical technology companies identify target markets, surface top opportunities and grow their businesses.
What’s a quoteworthy habit that keeps cross-team work moving?
“Being collaborative isn’t a personality trait. It’s a standard you hold yourself to before you walk into the room.”
For our team that means a clear agenda, a pre-read sent 24 hours in advance and defined next steps already in mind before any cross-team ask. Everyone in the room knows why they’re there, what we need from them and what happens after. But the thing that actually makes it work is showing up with something valuable first. Not just “here’s what we need” but “here’s something useful for you” or at the very least, a genuine understanding of why this work matters for their team too. That’s what makes people want to engage, come back and actually trust you. Cross-functional relationships don’t survive on good intentions. They’re built on reciprocity.
What metric proves it works?
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the outcome. Not how many syncs you had, not how thorough the agenda was. Did the work actually move? Did it have an impact? The guardrail we use to stay honest about that is shared OKRs.
Shared OKRs force that conversation upfront. When teams align on the same objective before the work starts, you’ve already agreed on what success looks like, so you’re not debating it later. It takes the subjectivity out of it. And it keeps everyone focused on the thing that actually matters — did the work move the needle?
Which ritual keeps alignment fresh?
There are two things we swear by. First, every meeting ends with clear next steps, owners and a date. Not “let’s reconnect soon” but an actual calendar invite before we hang up. We block 15 minutes, one to two weeks out and the agenda for that follow-up gets defined right there in the current meeting. That way everyone walks away knowing not just what they’re doing but what the next conversation is actually for. Second, that follow-up gets cancelled if it’s not needed. Most people do the opposite and leave things open-ended, which just creates lag. Putting the meeting on the calendar is a forcing function. And if we’ve already resolved everything? Great, cancel it. No one is mad about getting time back. The point is always the outcome, not the meeting itself.
