Our Head of Operations is managing both physical fulfillment and our software development team. As we scale, this seat is clearly overloaded. She insists she can handle both if we just hire her an assistant. How do we decide when it is time to split a seat versus adding support?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a leader is drowning, adding an assistant is often a band-aid solution that delays the inevitable. To scale and prepare for a clean exit, you must build an Accountability Chart that can sustain growth, and that means separating distinct business functions.

Managing both physical fulfillment and software development under one operations seat is a major structural flaw. These two departments require entirely different skill sets, metrics, and management styles. Physical fulfillment is about logistics and supply chain optimization, while software development is about product development, coding cycles, and technical architecture.

To decide whether to split the seat, look at your Scorecard and your quarterly Rocks. If your operations lead is consistently missing delivery deadlines or failing to release software updates because she is pulled in two different directions, she lacks the capacity for this combined seat.

Look at your V/TO® 3-Year Picture. If you plan to sell the software side of the business, a buyer will want to see a clean, independent software division with its own dedicated leader.

Split the seat on your Accountability Chart now. Create a Head of Physical Operations seat and a Head of Software Development seat.

Run the GWC™ evaluation on your current leader to see which of these two seats she truly gets, wants, and has the capacity to lead. Put her in that seat, and begin a search to fill the other seat. This gives you a clean structure that maximizes your exit valuation.