How to effectively scale an engineering organization

Too often in our industry, we think of scale as this nebulous thing that happens to companies all at once. In reality, different organizations within each company scale in a vastly different manner, at different speeds and at different times. There is no one-size-fits-all playbook for how that all unfolds, so much depends on external factors that are out of anyone’s control. But there are tried and true processes for how to effectively scale each individual piece of the business.

At the core of any tech startup’s ability to grow sits its engineering team. Scaling an engineering team is a complex, difficult and multi-faceted endeavor that requires strategy baked in at every level, from leadership to product and most importantly the culture. It's also the first key domino that must tip for a promising startup to become a successful enterprise.?

For more insight, I got in touch with my friend, Monica Bajaj. Monica has a diverse engineering background, having spent over a decade in software development before transitioning into engineering management. She has experience in multiple verticals in the space of B2B and B2C segments: storage and networking with NetApp, human capital management with Workday, and most recently in cloud identity, joining Okta as VP of Engineering. In addition to a wealth of professional experience, Monica is a genuinely thoughtful individual who takes time away from the fast pace of Silicon Valley to enjoy the natural world around her – hiking, tending to her epic garden, volunteering with the Boy Scouts and supporting the mission of Women in Stem.?

Monica and I sat down to discuss key components of successful scaling strategies for engineering organizations, exploring both the technical aspects as well as the human dynamics that are critical to success.???

Tell me about your own personal philosophy when it comes to scaling an engineering organization. What are the key elements or considerations that you find to be universal??

When it comes to creating or leveraging technology and building teams, the three-pillar approach (people, product, and process) is a critical framework to keep in mind to drive exponential growth and success.

The first prong is people. In building the team itself, one of the key elements is creating a diverse, motivated, and highly collaborative team. It’s a misconception that adding to the workforce is the only way to scale up. As a leader I always reflect on the following question: Am I maximizing the? opportunities for my people so that they can uncover their best?

Where does technology play into scale??

Technology helps define product and process. Product and technology are the enablers when it comes to resiliency, reliability and innovation, hence delivering value to customers on time. It’s important to keep in mind that a scalable product architecture is vital while you are building to meet the present needs while leaving room for future possibilities. On the infrastructure side, making savvy technology choices and making the right call on build vs buy can help scale resources to meet demand.?

On the process side, there are a few key things to consider when you are trying to build a quality and security-first mindset. Invest in automation and tooling that will improve the overall productivity and scalability in a significant manner. Having the best practices and tooling for CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, deployment orchestration tools, and incident management can be huge when it comes to scaling any engineering organization.

What do startup leaders need to understand about scaling an engineering organization to ensure that they’re laying the right early foundations for future growth??

Startups are always in a high-growth mode, but need to scale in a sustainable, reliable manner to effectively meet the needs of an expanding customer base and drive long-term success. The three C’s – Customers, Capital and Core Team are the key to building a strong foundation for successful, scalable, and overall sustainable business.

Here are some of the foundational elements to consider that are non negotiable:

• Startups operate in a very dynamic, rapidly changing environment and need to be ready to pivot with market shifts, focus on customer centricity, emerging business trends and new technologies. It's critical to have a simple and powerful North Star clear to every employee.
• Build a culture with strong core values. Hire leaders who are not only self aware but also continue to bring mutual awareness in the team they own.?
• Build brand reputation and credibility to attract the right talent who are hungry and curious , customers and partners. This takes time, and can only be accomplished with a consistent approach.?
• Fail fast. Failing fast allows resource allocation in the right and the most optimized manner. Founders can identify risks early on, actively seek feedback, address failures and treat them as opportunities to reduce those risks. This approach enables everyone to make more informed decisions as a startup grows and scales.?????????????????????????????????????

What are the benefits to getting these foundational elements right, and what are the potential consequences for getting them wrong??

Building these foundational elements helps provide clear direction, strong ownership, healthier organizational culture, team alignment, faster decision making and strong customer focus. Failure will ultimately hinder delivery, collaboration, innovation and most importantly, retaining top talent. This leads to loss of customers, loss of business and, as a result, loss of brand value and trust in the market.

When does a startup founder know that it’s time to start scaling the engineering org??

There are several key indicators. As a startup founder, if the validation for product market fit has been positive, it is time to think about scale to keep up with market opportunities and an increasing customer base. At this point, you need to start scaling your engineering team to meet the demand and needs of your customers and while keeping it in a healthy state by hiring.

You should constantly have an eagle eye towards the competitive landscape to make proper investments in talent, technology, infrastructure and development. If your startup is able to secure sufficient funding, do not miss the opportunity to scale across the board on people, product and process. These will lead to a stronger foundation, sustainable growth and the ability to seize market opportunities right on time.?

Are there early signals that can help founders/engineering leaders determine whether they’re on the right track as they scale their engineering org??

As a founder of any given startup, one should constantly be doing a health check on their company from multiple angles. The focus on customer advocacy needs to be strong from the get go. This requires open feedback channels seeking validation from your customers, so monitor user acquisition and retention rates carefully.?

Keep a close eye on usage of operations. A scaled operation that can meet the needs of customer demands when it comes to increased workloads is critical to the delivery of a resilient, reliable and highly available product. If there is no noise in these key areas, it provides bandwidth to the founders to expand the business further.

Finally, one cannot ignore the team performance since that’s the engine behind all the above. Having collaborative, hungry, curious and passionate individuals is the strong foundation for the success of the engineering organization.?

What are the red flags that mean it’s time to reevaluate your approach??

Growth becoming stagnant, revenue declining, frequent losses against the competition and weak pipelines are all bad signs. As is the inability to adapt technology to market needs, so it's critical to constantly reevaluate the tech stack and roadmap. If teams are experiencing high turnover, lack of cohesion, or any ongoing internal conflicts, this is a huge red flag.?

Lastly, a decline in investor interest and challenges in fundraising can have a significant impact towards the survival of a startup. As a founder, it is important to reassess the value proposition, reevaluate strategic direction and refine your pitch to get attention from the investors.

You’ve helped engineering organizations scale at companies of all different sizes and stages. Does the process or mindset change in a big company versus a startup, and if so, how??

There are certain subtle differences when it comes to leading in a startup vs a big company, however the basics still stay the same:

Decision Making: Startups cannot wait or delay decisions while in big companies with more bureaucracy, decisions tend to linger for a while taking consensus from multiple stakeholders, so the right balance is critical in order to move fast.?

Resourcing: Startups have limited resources in terms of infrastructure, talent and funding so be creative while aligned with key business priorities.

Risk Taking: Startups are always in survival mode until they are established.? They have to be comfortable in experimenting, taking risks and dealing with uncertainty. Quickly pivoting keeps them on track towards finding new ways of revenue growth. Stakes are high both in startups and big companies, but at different levels.?