As organizations grow, maintaining communication channels between individual contributors (ICs), managers, and executives is vital. At Carta, we have harnessed the power of this small group of senior engineers to bridge the gap between innovation and executive decision-making. We call this group the Navigators. In this session, we’ll discuss why Carta started the Navigators program, how we formed our initial group, what we’ve learned so far, and how you might leverage a similar program in your own organization. 

Bureaucracy and power dynamics can make decision-making harder. Executives can also begin to feel disconnected from the engineers. At Carta, we have leveraged a clear, written engineering strategy, in combination with our Navigators who serve to help teams interpret the engineering strategy within their domains. Navigators replace a need for consensus and boost velocity by combining technical context, domain context, strategic alignment, and judgment to make engineering decisions more quickly.

We’ll discuss how Carta views the roles of Directors and Navigators within the organization, juxtaposing a team and execution focus with that of the long-term health and productivity of software and systems. We will also dig into some specific scenarios where our Navigators have helped increase velocity and drive organizational alignment.

Finally, we’ll look forward to the next iteration of the Navigators and provide some ideas for how you might start a similar program at your organization. By leveraging Senior ICs and your management chain, you can create an environment where engineers are more closely aligned to your strategy and accelerate decision making.