Building strong teams takes time, and in hybrid settings it takes even more intention. This Build to Last session focused on the practices and principles that make collaboration sustainable.
Together we explored the dynamic landscape of modern collaboration with cross-functional teams in hybrid work – an essential conversation for today’s evolving workplace, rounded off with a summer BBQ.
What happened:
Expert panel discussion: Industry leaders shared experiences from hybrid, remote, and office-based models, highlighting what it really takes to build teams that are not only high-performing but also sustainable over time.
Interactive Q&A: Participants engaged directly with the panel, asking pressing questions about collaboration across physical and digital boundaries.
Afterwork & networking: The discussion continued in a relaxed setting with food, drinks, and valuable networking.
Key takeaways:
Structure matters: Teams need shared tools, clear expectations, and agreements on how to collaborate. A co-authored team contract signed by everyone can be a powerful start.
Feedback should be human: Real conversations — ideally in person, build trust faster than digital exchanges.
Watch out for the loud minority: Leaders must make space for the silent majority and involve the right people early. It is easy to stay quiet behind a screen.
People need to be seen: In hybrid settings, team members won’t be seen unless we actively choose to see them.
Why it mattered:
Hybrid and remote work offer flexibility but also create new challenges: slower feedback loops, disappearing small signals, and shifting team dynamics. To succeed, teams must be intentional about how they collaborate — balancing time for deep focus with the benefits of being in the same room when the product requires it.
A big thank you to our panel guests Elizabeth Strand and Fredrik Scheide for sharing their experiences, and to Jorunn Øyna for moderating with insight and elegance. Together with all participants, we strengthened the product development community in Oslo. Step by step, building to last.
Tuesday, 10 Jun 2025
Time and date:
Mesh Nationaltheatret:
Work bar
Venue:
Meet the panel
Elizabeth Strand
Panelist & Chief Design Officer - Fractlines.
Elizabeth is a design leader with 25 years experience of developing digital services and developing the organisations to deliver those services. She co-founded Making Waves (now Noa Ignite). She has driven innovation and digital transformation in cross-functional teams spanning e-commerce, airlines, banking, insurance, logistics and sustainability, in Norway and across the Nordics.
She strongly believes that to deliver products that succeed, you need to discover what creates value for the user, and align the strategic initiatives around that. Advocates for communication and collaboration as the key to team success.
Fredrik Scheide
Panelist & Special Strategic Advisor - NAV
Fredrik Scheide has led and built up one of the world's foremost design environments in the public sector, and is currently a special advisor in the new department for user experience in the Norwegian Directorate of Labor and Welfare (NAV).
He has broad international experience in strategy, transformation and product and service development in complex organizations. Fredrik is particularly passionate about the development of management models, and is concerned with how good structures and a strong culture facilitate learning, collaboration and real value creation.
Jorunn Øyna
Moderator & Chief Executive Officer - Skalar
Jorunn Øyna is a strategic leader with long experience in innovation, digital transformation, and user-centered change. She has led major initiatives across sectors – from real estate and retail to aviation and public services – always with a focus on creating real value for people and organisations. Known as a bridge-builder between strategy and execution, tech and people, she brings a clear view of the big picture and a hands-on approach to collaboration.
She has extensive experience working in and leading cross-functional, hybrid teams, and focuses on helping them align around strategy, build shared direction, and create value that lasts – for users, employees, and the organisation as a whole.
