When Engineers Struggle To Adapt To Rapid Changes

Problem

"I have founded Chartboost 7 years ago, and over the course of this time, we have had a lot of people join and leave our company. Startups and tech companies tend to grow and change rapidly and dramatically. However, what I've found is that a lot of our engineers aren't able to adapt to those changes. What we demand from our engineers tends to change quite regularly, so we have found that while certain members of the team have been great during certain phases of the company, they've struggled during other phases."

Actions taken

"As a manager, it's really important to think about how your team members adapt. Every startup will have stories of engineering teams that have gone from a small team to a medium one, and of people struggling with the changes. However, even things such as more structure or a culture change can affect engineers. When we went from a smaller company to a larger one, what we expected in terms of quality was very different. As we began growing and made more revenue, we started to get find we had a lot more competitors. Because of this, we began to ask our teams to provide higher output and a higher level of quality."

Lessons learned

"As we have grown, we have tried to be more conscious of hiring people who we believe will be good at adapting to change, and that they will be comfortable in their team environment. I also tried to ensure I had a good sense of what was coming up so I could tell candidates about our future plans to ensure they're comfortable with our company's vision."