Trip.com Group held an all-hands meeting last week, announcing the company-wide rollout of an integrated product and engineering model.
At the heart of the new system is the DRI (Directly Responsible Individual) model, which brings together employees from product, operations, front-end development, back-end development, algorithms and testing into project-based teams. The aim is to break down traditional functional silos and move towards a model in which "everyone is full-stack and everyone is a product manager."
Under the new structure, DRI leads are not restricted to any particular function and may come from product, operations or technology leadership roles. Team members from different functions are expected to collaborate across traditional boundaries. For example, product managers may evaluate engineers' performance, while engineers may report to operations leads.
Front-end and back-end engineers can also propose requirements and implement solutions independently. Similarly, ideas from product and operations teams can be developed and delivered independently if they can be executed with the help of AI. The DRI ultimately has the final say.
Several departments within Trip.com's travel, flights and content divisions have already begun adopting the model, although implementation timelines vary across teams. The company has not mandated a uniform rollout.
The move is reportedly influenced in part by Silicon Valley management philosophies and reflects a broader trend towards blurred job increasingly job boundaries in the AI era. The model could reduce internal friction, shorten delivery cycles and accelerate decision-making. However, its success depends heavily on the capabilities of DRI leads, who must combine technical understanding with strong business insight — a skill set that remains relatively scarce.
It is worth noting that details of the DRI model have so far come primarily from media reports. Trip.com has yet to publish comprehensive official implementation guidelines.
