Org Design

Org Design

Org Structure Types

Span of Control Guidelines

Signs span is too wide: managers skip 1:1s, performance issues go unaddressed, onboarding is poor.
Signs span is too narrow: managers micromanage, career growth is bottlenecked, overhead scales faster than output.

Team Topologies (Skelton & Pais)

Four Fundamental Team Types

1. Stream-aligned — delivers value directly to customers; owns a product or business domain end-to-end
2. Platform — provides self-service capabilities to stream-aligned teams; reduces cognitive load
3. Enabling — temporarily assists stream-aligned teams to adopt new practices or technologies
4. Complicated-subsystem — owns a specialized area requiring deep expertise (ML model, payments, crypto)

Interaction Modes

• Collaboration — work closely for a period, then decouple (innovation, bootstrapping)
• X-as-a-Service — consume without collaboration; platform model
• Facilitating — enabling team coaches, then steps back

Team Sizing (Dunbar-based)

• Cognitive load limit: ~8-12 engineers per team
• Communication overhead: n(n-1)/2 links — grows quadratically
• Amazon two-pizza rule: ~6-8 people

Restructuring Process

Phase 1: Diagnosis (2-4 weeks)

• Map current org to business outcomes — where is value blocked?
• Interview senior leaders and ICs on pain points
• Identify: duplicate work, coordination overhead, accountability gaps, talent mismatches
• Benchmark span of control and layer count vs peers
• Assess team health metrics (attrition, engagement, velocity)

Phase 2: Design (2-3 weeks)

• Define desired outcomes the new org must enable
• Design 2-3 structural options; stress-test each
• Identify key role changes, new roles, eliminated roles
• Model headcount and cost impact
• Get input from key stakeholders (not public yet)

Phase 3: Plan (1-2 weeks)

• Finalize structure and key appointments
• Draft communications (all-hands, manager talking points, FAQs)
• Prepare HR paperwork, system changes, reporting line updates
• Identify retention risks; prep retention packages if needed
• Set 90-day success metrics for new structure

Phase 4: Communicate

• Brief executives first (day before)
• All-hands announcement — CEO-led, honest framing
• 1:1 conversations for people with role changes same day
• Manager talking points distributed before announcement
• FAQ doc published simultaneously

Phase 5: Execute

• New reporting lines take effect (day 1)
• New team kickoffs within week 1
• 30-day check-in with all affected managers
• 90-day retrospective on new structure effectiveness

When to Reorganize

Strong signals:

• Clear ownership gaps causing repeated failures or dropped balls
• Coordination overhead consuming >20% of team time
• Business model or product strategy shift misaligned with current structure
• Significant talent scale (e.g. 2x headcount) requires new management layer
• Post-acquisition integration

Weak signals (don't reorg for these alone):

• Personality conflicts between leaders
• Short-term performance dip
• Desire to "shake things up"
• Copying another company's structure

Org Health Metrics

Common Org Design Mistakes

Reorg Communication Plan Template

## [Company] Org Update — [Date]

We're making changes to how we're organized to better [strategic goal].

What's changing:
- [Specific change 1]
- [Specific change 2]

What's not changing:
- [Stable elements to reassure people]

Why now:
- [Business rationale — honest and specific]

What this means for you:
- [Personalized by team]

Timeline:
- [Date]: Changes take effect
- [Date]: Team kickoffs
- [Date]: 30-day check-in

Questions: [who to contact]