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In Chapter 2 of the book “The Manager’s Path” by Camille Fournier, the author discusses various aspects of organizational design and evolution. Fournier begins by explaining that an organization is a collection of people working toward a shared goal, and the key to excellent organizations lies in consistently applying a straightforward process.

The chapter focuses on the sizing of teams within an organization. Fournier believes that the fundamental challenge of organizational design is sizing teams, which can be determined based on the following principles:

  1. Managers should support six to eight engineers: This allows managers enough time for coaching, coordinating, and furthering their team’s mission. Managers supporting fewer than four engineers tend to function more as Tech Lead Managers (TLMs), taking on design and implementation work, while managers supporting more than eight engineers may be too busy to invest in their team.

  2. Managers-of-managers should support four to six managers: This gives managers enough time to coach and align with stakeholders, while also ensuring they have time to invest in the organization. Managers supporting fewer than four managers should be in a period of active learning, while those supporting larger teams are functioning as coaches.

  3. On-call rotations want eight engineers: For production on-call responsibilities, two-tier 24/7 support requires eight engineers. It is sometimes necessary to pool multiple teams together to reach the required number of engineers for a 24/7 on-call rotation.

  4. Small teams (fewer than four members) are not teams: Teams with fewer than four individuals often function indistinguishably from individuals and are too fragile to be effective. Fournier recommends keeping innovation and maintenance together within existing teams, rather than creating separate teams for each.

Fournier provides a playbook for sizing teams, which includes recommendations such as maintaining a team size of six to eight during steady state, growing an existing team to eight to ten before creating a new team, and never leaving managers supporting more than eight individuals.

The chapter also discusses strategies for staying on the path to high-performing teams, such as identifying the current state of a team (falling behind, treading water, repaying debt, innovating) and applying the appropriate system solution to move the team to the next state. Fournier emphasizes the importance of maintaining faith in the plan and making progress in addressing organizational challenges.

Fournier further explores the challenges of managing productivity in the age of hypergrowth, where the demands on engineering teams increase rapidly. She discusses strategies for managing increased system load, including hiring and training, addressing ad hoc interruptions, designing flexible software systems, and avoiding gatekeeper patterns.

The chapter also touches on the concept of organizational debt and the importance of succession planning. Fournier encourages managers to identify their roles and responsibilities within the organization, close any gaps in skills and knowledge, and delegate tasks to other team members. Succession planning is presented as a valuable skill for building an enduring organization.

In summary, Chapter 2 of “The Manager’s Path” provides insights and practical strategies for sizing teams, managing productivity, addressing organizational debt, and planning for succession within an organization. Fournier’s approach emphasizes the importance of maintaining a straightforward process, making progress, and nurturing high-performing teams.

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