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StudioSeptember 5, 2023· 6 min read
From 3 to 12 people: what we rebuilt
Our team grew 4× in a year. Which processes we introduced for the first time, which we cancelled, and why a Wednesday staff meeting saved us from chaos.
Creastra Digest
- One tech lead per 5 engineers, no more
- Weekly sync mandatory; long sync harmful
- A "how we work" doc beats spoken rules
At 3 people you don't need processes — you're in one room. At 12 you needed them yesterday. The story of how we realised this with a 3-month lag and what we lost.
What we introduced
- One tech lead per 5 engineers
- Two-week sprint, no exceptions
- Wednesday 11:00 staff meeting, 30 min max
- Onboarding doc in Notion — every new hire reads day one
What we cancelled
The 9:00 daily stand-up. With 12 engineers that ate 2 cumulative hours a day. Replaced with an async Slack update — nobody misses it, nobody sits idle.