[vp8989]

"That problem is better solved by eliminating the silos and aligning incentives rather than gaining technical knowledge, in my opinion."

How do you actually do that though?

Employees typically have incentive to perform their own function to the best of their abilities. This manifests as things like compliance theatre, excessive/impractical IT policies, over-engineering the software, features/products built for the sake of it.

[nzmsv]

You talk to them. And even more importantly, you listen.

You'll quickly learn that strawmen such as features built for the sake of it don't actually exist. When you think you have found one, ask yourself why. Why did that engineer choose to rewrite a working piece of code? Could it be that there is no documentation and the person who wrote it left the company? Could the engineer be eager to prove themselves and nobody is giving them a bigger task? Did they want to learn a new technical area?

Or take security theater. Could it be an external regulatory requirement?

Of course sometimes the reason may be "a relative needed a job" but that is still different from "just because" :)

[glancast]

If they are not engaged in discussions about business priorities, they won't have the context or motivation to align their actions appropriately. If you hire tech people with soft skills, you can have them do rotations on support (and even sales), involve them in higher level strategy decisions, and avoid the CEO -> product manager -> designer -> developer pipeline that makes everyone feel like a cog, and detaches them from anything but their own little area. You can also align their financial incentives with company success (ownership), and give them ways to actually influence it in tangible ways.