The Big Idea

At Level 6, speed isn’t about adding engineers. It’s about building operational systems that support predictable, scalable delivery. You’ve probably got ~60 people and an $8M+ budget. Shipping is no longer heroic—it needs to be boring, repeatable, and aligned with capacity.

The ability to staff correctly, plan accurately, and run your tech function like a business unit isn’t extra—it’s the job.

This is the level where you stop solving velocity with adrenaline and start solving it with structure.

You Know You’re Struggling When

• Teams are always “at capacity,” but delivery still slips.
• You’re hiring reactively, not from a forecast or model.
• You don’t know which parts of the org are overstaffed or under-resourced.
• Engineers are burned out, and you’re surprised.
• You’re still trying to optimize delivery through process tweaks instead of real resourcing shifts.

You’re solving organizational problems with team-level fixes—and it’s not working.

Ideal State

You’ve built an operations layer that gives you real visibility into throughput, load, and staffing needs. Hiring plans are modeled, not guessed. Your team structure maps to delivery flow. You can identify drag early and fix it with adjustments in process or people—not last-minute pressure.

Speed at this stage isn’t how fast you code. It’s how well you staff and plan.

Closing the Gap

1. Model your delivery capacity. Build a basic resourcing forecast for each team. Tie it to roadmap velocity and business goals.
2. Fix the org chart to match flow. Align team boundaries with systems, not roles. Avoid shared responsibilities across pods.
3. Delegate operational clarity. Empower your VPs and EMs to own hiring models, sprint delivery, and team load visibility.
4. Treat unstaffed teams as broken systems. If a team is underpowered, it can’t succeed. Don’t “just wait” for the next headcount cycle.
5. Audit hiring velocity vs. onboarding velocity. Growing headcount means nothing if your ramp isn’t working.