Engineering teams don’t fail all at once. They slowly degrade, losing velocity, quality, or morale, until someone finally notices that things feel… off. At that point, it’s harder to fix, because you’re no longer just solving one problem. You’re untangling a mess.
This post shares a simple framework I’ve used to evaluate the health of an engineering organization across four dimensions: Clarity, Capability, Culture, and Cadence. If something feels off, this model helps break it down into something more actionable.
1. Clarity — Do we know what we're doing?
Lack of clarity is the silent killer of progress. Without it, teams spin. They do work that gets thrown away. They argue over priority. They second-guess themselves and hesitate to ship.
You can test for clarity by asking:
- Does every team know what they’re trying to accomplish this quarter?
- Is it clear why the work matters?
- Do engineers understand how their work connects to company goals?
- Can people explain priorities without referencing a Notion doc?
If the answer is no, people are probably overwhelmed, anxious, or just busy without impact.
What to do: Clarify goals at multiple levels—org-wide, team-level, and project-level. Use OKRs if they help. Repetition helps here, and don't change goals too often.
2. Capability — Do we have the people and skills to do the work?
Even when direction is clear, teams can struggle if they’re missing the right experience, stretched too thin, or blocked by tech debt.
To assess capability:
- Do we have the right mix of skills across the team?
- Are senior engineers available to unblock and mentor?
- Do we have enough engineers to match the product ambition?
- Are we constantly firefighting due to fragile systems?
This one is uncomfortable, because it often requires investing or changing headcount plans. But ignoring it doesn’t make the gaps go away, it just passes the cost downstream to overworked teams or unhappy customers.
What to do: Inventory your gaps. Staff accordingly. Reduce scope if needed. Or invest in tooling and platform improvements to multiply your current team’s impact.
3. Culture — Do people feel safe, connected, and motivated?
A healthy culture doesn’t mean everyone’s happy all the time. But it does mean people feel supported, trust their peers, and believe their work matters.
You’ll notice cultural issues in:
- Low psychological safety (e.g., engineers don’t ask questions or admit mistakes)
- Disengagement (e.g., doing the bare minimum)
- High turnover or teams with persistent retention problems
- Cynicism about leadership or company direction
Culture problems are tricky, because they’re slow to build and even slower to fix. But the symptoms usually show up in retros, 1:1s, and exit interviews if you’re paying attention.
What to do: Be present. Acknowledge problems out loud. Recognize people’s work. Fix small morale killers quickly. Hire managers who know how to create psychologically safe teams.
4. Cadence — Are we delivering at a sustainable rhythm?
Some teams sprint too fast and burn out. Others crawl and wonder why nothing is launching. Cadence is about whether teams are delivering at a consistent, sustainable pace and whether that pace is aligned with expectations.
To evaluate cadence:
- Are we shipping small units of value regularly?
- Do projects routinely slip without clear cause?
- Is engineering input included early in planning?
- Are we tracking and reflecting on velocity over time?
It’s easy to think cadence is just about process or ceremonies. But often, it’s downstream of the other three. If clarity is low, teams stall. If capability is misaligned, projects drag. If culture is broken, morale tanks and pace slows.
What to do: Establish a baseline rhythm. This could be biweekly demos, monthly planning, or whatever else works. Use lightweight metrics (e.g., median PR merge time, deploy frequency) to spot issues. Treat slips as signals, not failures.
Final Thoughts
This framework isn’t magic. It won’t give perfect answers. But it has given me better questions.
When something feels off in your org, ask:
“Is this a clarity problem? A capability issue? A cultural concern? Or a cadence breakdown?”
You’ll usually find that it’s not just one. It’s usually combination. Having this framework helps you identify and act early, before the rot sets in.
And if things feel good right now? That’s great. But still—ask yourself:
“Which of these areas are we neglecting?” Because engineering health isn’t something you fix. It’s something you maintain.