How do you scale an organization from tens to hundreds of engineers?

Question

Accepted Answer

Scaling from tens to hundreds is a **series of phase changes**, not smooth growth. What works at 30 breaks at 100 and again at 300. The CTO must redesign communication, decision-making, and leadership at each threshold.

## How to think about it

```text
WHAT CHANGES AS YOU SCALE
- Communication: informal → structured (you can't all be in one room)
- Decisions: centralized → delegated to trusted leaders
- Structure: one team → domains → divisions/platforms
- Leadership: ICs → managers → managers-of-managers you must develop
- Process: ad hoc → lightweight standards & paved roads
```

The binding constraint shifts from **building the product** to **building the organization that builds the product**.

## Concrete example

A CTO who personally made every technical decision at 40 engineers spends the journey to 250 hiring and growing directors, defining decision rights so they no longer bottleneck, and replacing hallway coordination with clear team interfaces and a platform team.

## Trade-offs and pitfalls

- **Pitfall:** the founder/CTO refusing to delegate, becoming the bottleneck.
- **Pitfall:** copying big-company process wholesale and crushing speed.
- Every layer of structure adds overhead; add it just ahead of the pain, not before.

## Why it matters

Most orgs lose enormous productivity per engineer as they scale, sometimes shipping less with more.

Navigating the phase changes well, delegating, growing leaders, and structuring for autonomy, is how some companies stay fast at hundreds while others stall.

It is among the hardest and most defining tests of a senior technical leader.