Frenemies–the death of the triad and the rise of the blob

At Eucalyptus, traditional role boundaries are deliberately dissolving. With the support of AI and modern tooling, designers, product managers, and engineers are expanding beyond their conventional domains. Product managers are prototyping interfaces, developers are contributing to design decisions, and designers are shaping strategy and delivery. Rather than creating tension, these overlaps are fostering innovation.

In this session, Oliver Ree explores how Eucalyptus is building a culture of "short toes"—where team members aren't overly protective of their domains, and cross-disciplinary collaboration flourishes. He'll demonstrate how AI serves as an enabler rather than a replacement, unlocking new ways of working that accelerate delivery and expand what teams can achieve collectively. The underlying goal isn't efficiency for its own sake, but raising the bar on what teams can imagine and deliver.

Key Takeaways:

• AI as catalyst – How artificial intelligence removes traditional barriers between roles and accelerates team velocity
• Cultural transformation – Building shared ownership models and cultivating flexibility across disciplines
• Hybrid roles emerge – Understanding new positions like "design engineer" and their implications for team structure
• Design as connector – How design functions as the organizational glue that bridges work across blurred role boundaries