The Challenge

A rapidly growing software and media company faced significant challenges in scaling its engineering team and delivering consistent, high-quality Cloud-native solutions. The team was caught in a whirlwind of competing project demands, resulting in inefficiencies and inconsistent delivery. Products also lacked the integration, workflow automation, and analytics capabilities needed to meet customer expectations and needs.

Additionally, operational processes were informal and fragmented, leading to delays, errors, and poor customer satisfaction. The system downtime was unacceptably high, further eroding trust and impacting the company’s ability to scale effectively. With a lack of clear governance and streamlined delivery practices, the organization struggled to keep pace with its goals.

The Approach

As Interim CTO for six months, Steven stepped in to provide the strategic leadership and operational excellence the organization needed to overcome these challenges. The approach was carefully designed to address immediate pain points while laying the groundwork for long-term scalability and success.

Strategic Assessment and Vision Alignment

• Conducted a thorough evaluation of the existing engineering structure, processes, and technology stack.
• Engaged leadership and stakeholders to align on a vision for the organization’s growth and the role of the engineering team in achieving the vision and aligning with business objectives.
• Identified key areas for improvement: team scalability, delivery consistency, system reliability, and customer experience.

Enhancing Engineering Practices

• Cloud-Native Solutions: Led engineering teams to transition to modern, Cloud-native architecture, enabling better scalability, integration, and performance.
• Data Integration and Workflow Automation: Designed and implemented solutions to enhance data integration, automate workflows, and improve analytics capabilities. This allowed the organization to leverage insights for better decision-making.
• Governance and Agile Practices: Introduced governance models and enhanced Agile practices to ensure timely delivery while maintaining high quality.
• Established clear sprint planning and retrospectives to improve team focus and velocity.
• Introduced robust risk management practices to mitigate project delays and technical risks.

Building a Scalable Team

• Expanded the engineering organization by hiring and onboarding highly skilled professionals to meet growing project demands.
• Created a mentorship and training framework to upskill existing team members, ensuring alignment with the organization’s evolving goals.
• Fostered a culture of collaboration, accountability, and innovation across the engineering team.

Operational Excellence

• Implemented monitoring and reporting tools to reduce system downtime and ensure optimal performance.
• Established KPIs to measure team velocity, project delivery timelines, and customer satisfaction, providing transparency and accountability.
• Partnered with cross-functional teams to align engineering with business needs and improve the overall customer experience.