Building Effective Teams & Resource Scaling in Engineering:

Vertical vs Horizontal

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Author’s Corner

In this white paper, Marissa Jacobson, Client Operations Director, details the importance of resource scaling in engineering and potential scalability obstacles.

Please click on the video to the right to learn more about the author, hear her insights on this white paper, and learn what motivated her to write about building effective teams and scaling in engineering.

To discuss this white paper in detail, please contact Marissa using the information provided at the bottom of the page.

Building any successful team in engineering is not an easy task. Scaling your resources according to the needs of a project or organization becomes critical to achieving high performance in the long term in any group whether large or small. It means "increasing the size and capabilities of your engineering organization to be able to deliver more complex products and services cost-effectively."[1] Being aware of the necessary resources, their skillsets, and identifying the number is key.

There are certain obstacles and risks to scaling in the wrong way; scaling up or down too quickly can cause major issues, sometimes yielding short-term results. A more considered approach tends to provide more sustainable outcomes. Some of those impacts can include creating silos, diminishing impact per engineer over time, and limiting the ability to adapt quickly and respond to changing customer needs.

In order to grow your engineering business and attain bigger deals/larger projects, several factors are needed: a stronger team to deliver these opportunities, a process, and goals/values at the forefront of organizational culture.

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Key to Resource Scaling

The engineering industry is very competitive, especially now with an increase in available positions and fewer relevant applicants. That factor plus the increase in the average cost of hiring account for why each new team member must fit perfectly and collaborate seamlessly. This is where the need for extreme attention to the hiring process is key. Start by reevaluating the recruiting process and hiring for culture first, and skills second. In general, skills competency can be developed, but changing character is very difficult (if not impossible).

It's always a good idea to compare/contrast new employees with the existing members of the team, to determine if they can distance themselves from their teammates’ weaknesses or, on the other hand, accentuate their strengths.

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[2] Areas affected by poor communication

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Once the team is in place for growth, the next step is to create a solid onboarding process with principles and best practices to follow. Those first months of orientation are critical, and set guidelines and steps to follow need to be in place for effective scaling. In engineering, onboarding is immediately followed by technology access, the sharing of standards and templates currently being used within a team, as well as developing project samples before moving into actual production work and being fully integrated. This will help ensure your new hires (scaling) will have all information needed to ensure an effective transition into a team environment.

From here, instead of relying solely on a few individuals moving vertically in the organization, teams can be organized into smaller teams with more autonomy as they grow horizontally. Based on our experience with engineering teams, divided scaling (teams divided into smaller groups) is an idea that has been successful in large groups, fully maintaining the continuity and functions of the overall teams. However, within those smaller teams it creates an environment for more effective communication, and they can remain decentralized and independent. They also development faster and achieve more innovative solutions throughout the design and engineering process.

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[3] The Scaling Hurdle – Six focus areas for efficient and scalable growth

At Vee Technologies, we have company-wide standards and a successful operating model in place, with an emphasis on open communication, skills, capabilities, and a culture ingrained in strong morals and values. Our team uses an extensive hiring and onboarding process including communication interviews, technical interviews, and tool tests among other stages to ensure our teams are well-rounded and easily tailored to our client’s team needs. We consistently visualize and track our engineering teams’ progress on goals and objectives over time.

We take each client’s goals and objectives into consideration when implementing new practices to improve our teams’ workflow and integration because every organization works differently and requires varying structures. With the increased difficulty in the current market in hiring the right talent and the time it takes to onboard and integrate new team members, Vee Technologies has the right solutions to help scale your business and initiatives.

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References:

[1] How to Scale Your Engineering Team | by George Stark | The Startup | Medium

[2] 5 Performance Management Issues and How to Overcome Them | StaffCircle

[3] The Scaling Hurdle PART 2 - BPI - The destination for everything process-related (businessprocessincubator.com)

David Haynes

Meet the Author

Marissa Jacobson - Client Operations Director/BIM Management

Marissa Jacobson serves as the Engineering Client Operations Director and BIM Manager at Vee Technologies. She has over 10 years of experience in architecture and engineering with extensive commercial, residential, and institutional project portfolios with an emphasis on design and management. Marissa fosters an environment of teamwork and ensures that strategy is clearly defined while overseeing design, quality, and technical performance. Her strong communication and client relationships skills enhance Vee Technologies process-driven management style.

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