Ask YC: Team structure - when is the right time to start?

5 points by iamyoohoo 16 years ago | 4 comments

Hi All,

I need your help and thoughts. Here's a quick background.

I started building some projects for fun and realized that it would be great if I can hire some help. Obviously, I couldn't afford a full time salary here, so I decided to see if there's some possibility of an offshore team.

I hired my first person 18 months ago and this person started working at then my partners house (he lives offshore). We moved into our first office 15 months ago and increased the team to 4 people. Till then I was just building stuff for fun trying to see what sticks. This is when I started getting requests from a couple of people to build applications for them. It was a good source of side income and so we did.

Fast forward to now, my partner is no longer with us (I own the company now), we have moved into a larger office and recently hired employee # 10 and # 11. We're doing some fun things building fun applications and this hobby has suddenly turned into a BUSINESS with real profit and revenue.

The problems and questions I have are: a) My structure so far was flat. Everyone reported to me. We used scrum reporting from Assembla. However, now there's too many people to manage plus I still have customers to work with. However, if we introduce a structure, the hierarchy may slow things down. Thoughts?

b) With more people especially since I am not in the same location as others, there are communication hurdles. We've gotten pretty good at this but does anyone have better experience with dislocated teams that can suggest some tools? process? etc. that can help other than the regular skype, messenger, phone etc.

c) If we decide a structure, it makes sense for me to make my first 4 employees as leads. They have been around the longest and worked with me the most (and hence understand me the most). 2 of those are the strongest developers, however the other 2 not so much. However, from experience I know that when you make the smartest people leaders, they loose their day to day contribution a little at least in the short run. What do you recommend the best structure would look like.

I understand I may not have provided some details, so please let me know in the comments and I will add here.

Appreciate your help for a first time entrepreneur/business owner with little knowledge of growing a company and creating a structure that lends well to growth.

Thanks !

makecheck 16 years ago |

While your team remains small, focus entirely on issue tracking and documentation for communication: for example, set up Trac, and make sure everything is written up as a ticket and/or a wiki page. That way, work items are easily assigned to people, and at a glance anyone can see what others are doing without having to stop and ask them.

Instill a culture of checking for open items and picking them up. Your teammates should see new issues on the page and seek to assign them properly. (After all, everyone can see if one guy has 100 items and another has 2, so it'll distribute itself naturally.)

Similarly, the rate of success on tickets will tell you if your team is really big enough.

iamyoohoo 16 years ago | |

Thanks, good feedback.

lacker 16 years ago |

4 leads with 11 people might be too much. You only have to change things a little bit at a time. Maybe turn 3 or 4 of your employees into a group reporting to one lead, and see how that works out.

Don't be afraid to make your best developers into leads. If you think they would be the best leads, do it. You will lose direct contribution, but you need to make this decision for the long term. You want an atmosphere of performance being rewarded, rather than promoting long-time less-competent people. Your other employees will see what you do.

iamyoohoo 16 years ago | |

I agree, that's something we have to do. But it is a difficult choice as you can imagine. Thanks.