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.

Engineering Team Growth 👇

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

You

Your Team

Your Processes

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

Document everything

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

Dive into engineering leadership books

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

Run great retrospectives

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

Create a code of conduct

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

Implement a career progression plan

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

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

Learn from experienced leaders with podcasts

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

Give and receive feedback (often)

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

Build a consistent recruiting process

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

Join communities of like minded leaders

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

Create a proper incident response process

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

Align on code quality/standards

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

Adopt a growth mindset

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

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

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

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

Adopt a “confidence vs. competence” attitude

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

Start building an engineering intelligence team

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

Stay away from the consensus trap

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

Master the art of decision-making

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

Create a proper on-call process

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

Go to conferences for engineering leaders

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

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

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

Focus on continuous delivery

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

Create a great candidate experience

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

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

Deal with underperformance

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

Don’t forget about security

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

Map your PRs to Tickets

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

Invest in and pamper your CI

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

Get a mentor

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

Write more

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

Automate operational processes

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

Ensure your teams are autonomous

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

Build a great engineering culture

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

Hire a VP of Engineering

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

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

Have clear decision-making processes

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

Learn how to delegate

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

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)

Formalize your org. & responsibilities

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

Keep an eye on tech debt

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

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

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

Strengthen team alignment + team dependency mngmt

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

Implement metrics for continuous improvement

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

Start tracking app ownership

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

Continuously provide purpose to your engineers

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

Use constraints to boost your creativity

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

Learn from other industries

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

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

Create a clear hiring scorecard

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

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

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

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

Become a mentor

This is some text inside of a div block.
250+ engineers
Become a mentor

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
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?