Engineering Flow: Designing Teams That Deliver Without Burnout

Understanding the Trade-offs in Startup Team Structure

Startup engineering teams evolve fast, and what works at one stage often becomes a bottleneck at the next. The key is not chasing a “perfect” structure—it doesn’t exist—but understanding trade-offs and making intentional choices.

Consider a post-Series A B2B SaaS with 18 engineers, 3 PMs, and 2 designers. Backend, frontend, and native mobile apps need to ship. The team is growing, and demands are outpacing coordination.

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Scenario 1: Technical Teams

At first, engineers are grouped by skill: frontend with frontend, backend with backend, mobile with mobile. Early wins:

• Deep skill-building in each domain

• Full visibility over technical craft

But challenges emerge:

• Every project is cross-team; dependencies slow progress

• Frontend engineers wait on backend APIs

• Mobile engineers struggle with APIs optimized for web

• Backend feels disconnected from product outcomes

Tip: Skill-based teams excel early, but plan for eventual cross-functional alignment to prevent silos and friction.

Squads: Business-Aligned Teams

To address cross-team friction, startups often move to squads, grouping engineers around a business domain rather than a technical stack.

Benefits of squads:

• Clear focus on delivering business outcomes

• Natural cross-functional collaboration

• Improved team dynamics and ownership

Challenges:

• Core technical work and framework updates often get neglected

• Technical debt accumulates unnoticed

• Engineers may feel isolated within their stack

Tip: Schedule dedicated time for squad members to work on foundational technical tasks. Even 10–20% of a squad’s capacity devoted to core work can prevent long-term slowdowns.

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Chapters: Sharing Expertise Across Teams

Chapters (or Communities of Practice) group engineers by skill across squads. For example, all frontend engineers meet regularly to:

• Share technical knowledge

• Align on standards (linting, libraries)

• Coordinate framework updates

Benefits:

• Faster knowledge dissemination

• Reduced duplicated effort

• Accelerated seniority growth

Drawbacks:

• Engineers pulled from squads may delay feature delivery

• Prioritizing chapter tasks versus squad work can create conflicts

Tip: Formalize the percentage of time allocated to chapter work (~20% works well) and communicate it clearly. Balance ensures knowledge growth without derailing product delivery.

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Core Teams and One-Shot Projects

Core Teams

To handle technical debt and transversal projects, some startups create a dedicated core squad. This squad focuses solely on:

• Large-scale technical projects

• Framework updates

• Infrastructure improvements

Pros:

• Concentrated focus on technical complexity

• Reduced interruption for product squads

Cons:

• Product squads may struggle without key expertise

• Core squad engineers may feel disconnected from product outcomes

• Constant negotiation over who contributes what

One-Shot Projects

Some startups instead assign engineers temporarily to tackle specific technical projects.

• Clear start and end dates

• Defined scope and resources

Challenges:

• Project duration uncertainty

• Temporary team disruption

• Burnout risk if timelines extend unexpectedly

Tip: Define success criteria and deadlines upfront. Accept adjustments early to prevent wasted effort and morale drops.

Staff Engineers: The Multiplier Effect

The most effective approach combines staff engineers with squads and chapters. Staff engineers:

• Are highly autonomous

• Move across squads where they add the most value

• Act as individual contributors and force multipliers

Key benefits:

• Strategic oversight across projects

• Mentorship and guidance without daily management load

• Facilitate technical alignment and updates

Example:

• Backend staff engineer assists squad B while leading a React upgrade for the entire web platform

• Staff engineers organize “update days” for dependency updates, changelogs, and tests

• Engineers in product squads focus on delivering features, trusting staff to handle transversal work

Tip: Empower staff engineers to act with autonomy but keep them accountable for impact. Their effectiveness multiplies team velocity when clearly aligned with organizational priorities.

Final Thought:

Startup teams evolve through technical teams → squads → chapters → core squads → staff engineers. Each step addresses new challenges while introducing trade-offs. The key is intentional alignment: clarity on priorities, visibility into hidden work, and strategic allocation of talent. Done right, this approach maximizes delivery, reduces burnout, and scales both team capacity and technical excellence.

What’s your next spark? A new platform engineering skill? A bold pitch? A team ready to rise? Share your ideas or challenges at Tiny Big Spark. Let’s build your pyramid—together.

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