People and process
“Our team shape was built for a world without AI.”
Pyramid staffing, review queues and career paths all assume people write most of the code.
The question leaders ask
Is our team shaped for AI, and who here is really an FDE?
01 / The challenge
You will recognize this if…
- Senior engineers spend their days reviewing AI output.
- Juniors ship code they could not have written, and are not learning from it.
- Resource plans still add people when the work needs to go faster.
- Every vendor and candidate now says "AI-native" or "FDE". Few can show it in their work.
02 / Why it happens
The root cause.
The classic pyramid, many juniors under a few seniors, existed to turn effort into output. With AI, the scarce resource is judgment: people who can frame the problem, steer the tools and verify the result. Most teams have too little of it, in the wrong places, and no reliable way to tell who really has it.
The pyramid model assumed people were the engine of output. With AI, output is cheap and judgment is scarce. Teams need fewer layers, more senior attention, and a deliberate way of growing judgment in the people coming up.
We believe the forward-deployed engineer is the defining role of this era: someone who can take a problem from first conversation to production, use AI well and hold standards high. It is a role that can be assessed and developed, not just claimed on a résumé or in a proposal.
04 / How we solve it
What we do about it, with you.
We advise on team shape, roles and talent, and help you assess and grow forward-deployed engineers.
- 01
Reshape around small senior teams
Small, senior teams that own outcomes, with resource loading planned on flow rather than headcount.
- 02
Define the FDE role properly
What a forward-deployed engineer is, what good looks like, and how to assess it in your hires and your vendors’ teams.
- 03
Give juniors a real path
A learning path that builds judgment, not just output, so today’s juniors become tomorrow’s FDEs.
- 04
Grow FDEs deliberately
The same grooming approach we use for our own engineers: assess, immerse, apprentice, certify.
Smaller teams that deliver more
Senior time spent where judgment matters
A pipeline of engineers who grow into FDEs
Does this sound like your team?
Tell us what you are seeing, and we will tell you honestly whether and how we can help.