📬𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲?

𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯-𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 & 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀: '𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲?'"

Founders often assume the answer is obvious. 

But misaligned decision rights are one of the top causes of architecture sprawl.

✅ A tech lead unilaterally chooses a framework. 

✅ A staff engineer blocks change because 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥.

✅ A cross-team decision dies in Slack because nobody owns the outcome.

Here’s a simple framework: 

𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁.

• 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 (e.g. CTO) for org-wide platforms

• 𝗙𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 (e.g. Architecture Council) for shared interfaces

• 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 (e.g. squads) for local implementation choices

The failure mode? When centralized decisions are made locally — or vice versa.

🧠 It’s not about who’s smartest. It’s about 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.

🗣️ Curious how other scale-ups structure this? Let me know your thoughts in the comments 

🙏 I help start-ups / scale-ups design the systems, teams, and technical strategy they need to grow — without burning out, breaking down, or bottlenecking the business. 

🔁 Like this kind of thinking? Follow along for more — or book a quick, no-pressure call.

#TechnicalLeadership #EngineeringExcellence #ScalingTech #CTOThoughts #ArchitectureGovernance #DecisionMakingFramework #FractionalCTO #StartupLeadership