Observations On Scaling A Team Very Quickly

A while back I had the opportunity to create a new division at our company focused on business products. As presented to me the division was envisioned as comprising 7 teams and 30 odd people. The catch was of the 7 teams, only one had a manager, another comprised just two contractors and 3 of the teams had no one in them at all, in reality they were nothing more than promises of future capability.

Before these promises could be delivered in some serious hiring had to be done, or at least a start made. Here are the observations I have on the back of this experience

Observation 1: Know why you are recruiting

What are they going to be doing in there first 3 months, where do you think their first win will com from. What about 6 and even 9 months

This mean you are interviewing against a problem you can see and for a capability you do not have. It also forces you to think about where people fit in the organisational structure. It is not the only criteria, but if you are just hiring good people and hopping they will work it out it is too loose

And you are asking someone to leave a job and take a brand new one with all the risks that entails. Why would you not put some time in confirming what they will work on in the first few months

Observation 2. Take a break

If you have a lot of hiring to do, stop and think about the order it needs to go in. “Let’s just hire in a bad ass contract project manager” is the go to business response to any problem. I don’t buy this. Even contract project managers take a while to hire, time to onboard and time to get familiar with the context, and evebn then it si quite possible that all they tell you (if they are good) is that the thing you hired them to deliver is not well defined enough.

Similarly don’t hire the bottom of the stack first. Sure it is the easiest place to get started. The roles are simpler, you can plug in soem contractors quickly. But what are they going to do, who’s going to check the work is good. By taking this approach you are just creating work for yourself in the wrong place and loosing focus.

So… just stop!

Observation 3. Identify the team making positions

Principal engineers, people managers, Product mangers. Build a plan to land thesis guys first. If you can find them in other teams inside your organisation so they come across with context.

Once you have these guys in hiring the rest comes easier, interviews can be load balanced. Question about what needs to get done can be discussed and benefit from the application of collective intelligence

Observation 4: The classic

If you have any doubts and its a permanent role do not hire unless you are 100% sure.

Happily ever after

A little over 12 months after the challenge was issued over 50 perm and contract roles had been filled, including 4 product managers, a project manager and 4 people managers. Not only was the hiring target met but the framework put in place on the back of the above observations was a critical constant in the background.