Scaling Your Engineering Organization Checklist

A guide to help engineering leaders navigate the changes to their teams, processes, and leadership skills as their company grows.

Categories

Get PDF version

FAQ

Who is the checklist for?
Who is is behind this checklist?
Can I contribute?

Engineering Team Growth 👇

5 -> 20 engineers
20 -> 100 engineers
100 -> 250 engineers
250+ engineers
No items found.

You

Your Team

Your Processes

Join communities of like minded leaders

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Join communities of like minded leaders

Make sure you’re building a diverse team

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Make sure you’re building a diverse team

Implement a career progression plan

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Implement a career progression plan

Subscribe to the best engineering leadership newsletters

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Subscribe to the best engineering leadership newsletters

Document everything

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Document everything

Have regular personal retros to redefine your role

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Have regular personal retros to redefine your role

Become an expert interviewer

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Become an expert interviewer

Develop excellent communication & presentation skills

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Develop excellent communication & presentation skills

Give and receive feedback (often)

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Give and receive feedback (often)

Align on code quality/standards

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Align on code quality/standards

Run great retrospectives

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Run great retrospectives

Learn from experienced leaders with podcasts

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Learn from experienced leaders with podcasts

Create a proper incident response process

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Create a proper incident response process

Create a code of conduct

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Create a code of conduct

Dive into engineering leadership books

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Dive into engineering leadership books

Have a system to track work & progress

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Have a system to track work & progress

Build a consistent recruiting process

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Build a consistent recruiting process

Adopt a growth mindset

This is some text inside of a div block.
5 -> 20 engineers
Adopt a growth mindset

Have clear decision-making processes

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Have clear decision-making processes

Formalize your org. & responsibilities

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Formalize your org. & responsibilities

Align tech & engineering strategy with business goals

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Align tech & engineering strategy with business goals

Stay away from the consensus trap

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Stay away from the consensus trap

Buy tools to solve problems (vs. hiring more engineers)

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Buy tools to solve problems (vs. hiring more engineers)

Deal with underperformance

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Deal with underperformance

Ensure your teams are autonomous

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Ensure your teams are autonomous

Focus on continuous delivery

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Focus on continuous delivery

Build a great engineering culture

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Build a great engineering culture

Keep an eye on tech debt

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Keep an eye on tech debt

Master the art of decision-making

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Master the art of decision-making

Start building an engineering intelligence team

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Start building an engineering intelligence team

Hire a VP of Engineering

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Hire a VP of Engineering

Create a proper on-call process

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Create a proper on-call process

Hire a VP of Engineering

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Hire a VP of Engineering

Define an onboarding process for new hires

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Define an onboarding process for new hires

Automate operational processes

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Automate operational processes

Invest in and pamper your CI

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Invest in and pamper your CI

Start tracking Velocity, Quality, and Outcome metrics

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Start tracking Velocity, Quality, and Outcome metrics

Start building an Engineering Intelligence team

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Start building an Engineering Intelligence team

Write more

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Write more

Learn how to delegate

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Learn how to delegate

Go to conferences for engineering leaders

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Go to conferences for engineering leaders

Don’t forget about security

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Don’t forget about security

Adopt a “confidence vs. competence” attitude

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Adopt a “confidence vs. competence” attitude

Map your PRs to Tickets

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Map your PRs to Tickets

Define an onboarding process for new hires

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Define an onboarding process for new hires

Get a mentor

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Get a mentor

Create a great candidate experience

This is some text inside of a div block.
20 -> 100 engineers
Create a great candidate experience

Learn from other industries

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Learn from other industries

Implement metrics for continuous improvement

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Implement metrics for continuous improvement

Cultivate cascading information sharing through the org.

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Cultivate cascading information sharing through the org.

Adopt an “executive 1st, functional leader 2nd” mentality

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Adopt an “executive 1st, functional leader 2nd” mentality

Build your engineering teams around the product

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Build your engineering teams around the product

Create a clear hiring scorecard

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Create a clear hiring scorecard

Continuously provide purpose to your engineers

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Continuously provide purpose to your engineers

Start tracking app ownership

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Start tracking app ownership

Train your managers & team leads to delegate

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Train your managers & team leads to delegate

Use constraints to boost your creativity

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Use constraints to boost your creativity

Strengthen team alignment + team dependency mngmt

This is some text inside of a div block.
100 -> 250 engineers
Strengthen team alignment + team dependency mngmt

Focus on removing the biggest blockers to your business goals

This is some text inside of a div block.
250+ engineers
Focus on removing the biggest blockers to your business goals

Build a culture of innovation to find your next growth levers

This is some text inside of a div block.
250+ engineers
Build a culture of innovation to find your next growth levers

Uphold a culture of authenticity & radical candor

This is some text inside of a div block.
250+ engineers
Uphold a culture of authenticity & radical candor

Make sure your team leaders contribute to the strategy

This is some text inside of a div block.
250+ engineers
Make sure your team leaders contribute to the strategy

Become a mentor

This is some text inside of a div block.
250+ engineers
Become a mentor
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the checklist for?
Engineering Leaders who are on a journey to scale their engineering team (CTO, VP of Engineering, Head of Engineering etc.).
Engineering Managers and Team Leads who want to help their teams and scale with the company.
Future Engineering Leaders (Developers) who want to start improving their skills.
Who is behind this checklist?
This checklist wouldn’t be possible without precious feedback from:
- Jason Warner, who helped scale Github from 50 to 2000 engineers
- Jose Caldeira, who helped scale Outsystems from 20 to 700 engineers
- John Laban, who helped scale PagerDuty from 1 to 150 engineers
- Renaud Visage, who helped scale EventBrite from 1 to 250 engineers

And the numerous guests from the Developing Leadership Podcast including: Charity Majors, Meri Williams, Erik Bernhardson, César Lugo, and more.
Can I contribute?
We support and welcome contributions, questions, comments, additions to this checklist. We reserve the right to accept additions at our discretion. Get in touch!

Leading engineering leaders are autonomously improving with Athenian.

Ready to join them?
Get started today
Product
Product OverviewWhy Athenian?Pricing
Product Resources
Case StudiesProduct ChangelogService StatusDocs & Support
Resources
BlogPodcastScaling Your Org. ChecklistCase StudiesAll Resources
Company
SecurityCareersContact us
Terms
Privacy PolicyTerms of ServiceAcceptable Use PolicyLegal InformationAthenian is SOC2 certified
© Athenian SAS - 2019-2023