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Imagine an engineering team drowning under a mountain of frustration—60+ support tickets every month, relentless pressure, and no relief in sight.
I stepped in to lead an engineering team at Tipalti in April last year. Our mission? To innovate and build. But instead of focusing on creation, we found ourselves consumed by daily support tickets—far more than one team could manage. The non-stop flow of tickets led to a series of challenges:
- Developers were overwhelmed, frustrated, and struggling to keep up.
- The support team was desperate for solutions but faced long delays in getting the help they needed.
- Customers were stuck waiting far too long for answers, damaging trust and satisfaction.
We tried new workflows, faster processes, and quick fixes. Nothing worked. It felt like a battle we couldn’t win.
And then, something changed.
Within six months, our ticket volume dropped from over 60 to fewer than 20 per month. The secret? Collaboration.
Collaboration: The Key to Transformation
At first, we assumed that better processes alone could solve our ticket overload. But we missed a key insight: the problem wasn’t just operational but fundamentally human. Once we shifted our focus from efficiency to collaboration, everything began to fall into place.
Here’s what we did:
1. Eliminating Blame, Building Trust
We started by creating a safe space for open conversations. Monthly syncs with the support team that quickly evolved into weekly meetings. These sessions focused not on assigning blame but on solving problems together. This transparency led to trust and opened the door to more productive dialogue between teams.
2. Knowledge Sharing to Strengthen Both Teams
Our sync meetings became a great place to exchange insights and knowledge gaps. Engineers identified tickets that didn’t require escalation and coached the support team on resolving them independently. The support team flagged recurring issues and proposed long-term fixes instead of temporary workarounds. This mutual understanding built empathy, patience, and efficiency across both teams.
3. Introducing the “Catwoman” Role
We introduced a dedicated engineer for each sprint—someone we playfully called the “Catwoman,” focused entirely on support tickets. This gave the support team a clear point of contact, and engineers no longer felt blindsided by unexpected ticket escalations. The result? A more streamlined and manageable approach to ticket resolution.
4. Data-Driven Problem Solving
Both teams began gathering data on tickets. By analyzing this information together, we identified root causes and prioritized long-term fixes over quick patches. This proactive approach reduced ticket volume and improved the quality of our solutions.
5. Improving Ticket Filtering and Coordination
Over time, the support team refined its internal processes to filter and prioritize tickets more effectively. When a known issue was already being addressed by engineering, they implemented workarounds instead of escalating tickets unnecessarily. This freed up capacity for both teams to focus on strategic solutions.
The Results
Six months later, the results were undeniable:
- Ticket volume escalated to the engineering team dropped by 67%, from over 60 per month to less than 20.
- The total number of tickets created by our customers was reduced by almost 20%.
- Customers received faster, more reliable service, with response times dropping from 7 days to just 2 days. This boosted satisfaction and trust.
Both teams operated in harmony—with trust, clarity, and shared purpose driving their efforts.
The Takeaway
The key to solving even the toughest challenges lies not just in optimizing processes but in fostering collaboration, trust, and mutual understanding. Every solution we implemented was a result of working together as a cohesive team. By working together toward a shared purpose, teams can turn chaos into order and transform frustration into impactful change.
If your team is facing similar challenges, don’t underestimate the power of collaboration. The most complex problems become solvable when people work together with empathy, transparency, and a shared commitment to success.
