Navigators: Driving Alignment in Growing Engineering Organizations

Explore a conference talk from StaffPlus New York 2024 that delves into Carta's innovative approach to maintaining organizational alignment as companies grow. Learn about two key initiatives: defining a canonical position on shared execution strategy and designating senior engineers as "Navigators" to drive and interpret that strategy across the organization. Discover why these initiatives are beneficial, how they were implemented, and the lessons learned so far. Understand the power of documenting your engineering organization's strategy and how Navigators can help interpret and apply it effectively. Compare the role of Navigators with that of Directors, examining the differences between team and execution focus versus long-term software and system health. Gain insights into specific scenarios where Navigators have improved velocity and organizational alignment. Get ideas for implementing a similar program in your own organization to enhance decision-making, reduce re-litigation and escalation, and optimize overall execution.