# Structuring a small team > Choose between a split by subject, by channel or a shared pool, give each area an owner and a backup, and make hand-offs and two-boss setups work. - Course: [From Specialist to Manager: Your First Year Leading a Team](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager.md) - Module: Decisions and team structure - Lesson 27/32, ~23 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/structuring-a-small-team ## Who takes which ticket? **Alex Tutor:** Mid-July. Today every coordinator takes whatever comes next in the queue, plus two rotations: hard tickets and, since late June, the evening inbox. **Iryna:** Roman from tutor-ops wants one named person in Support for tutor scheduling. Product wants someone who knows the video bugs. Before I say yes to anyone, show me the options. **Alex Tutor:** Three basic shapes. **By subject**: each person owns topics, like payments or video. **By channel**: chat people and email people. **A shared pool**: everyone takes everything, perhaps with rotating roles. **Alex Tutor:** That's **team structure**: how work and responsibility are split inside the team. The test of a good one: few, clear hand-offs, and a piece of work each person can own. **Sofia:** So which one is best? **Alex Tutor:** None in general. Each fails in its own typical way. Match them. > **Exercise:** Match each structure to its **typical way of failing**. ## A hybrid for a small team **Alex Tutor:** With four people, a common answer is a shared pool for the queue plus a few named owners: one for refund exceptions, one for the help texts, each with a backup who practises. **Olha:** That's roughly what we have. Refund exceptions are mine, the rotations share the rest. The weak point is backup: when I'm away, nobody has ever decided an exception alone. **Alex Tutor:** So the structure question is really about backups and hand-offs, not about drawing boxes. **Alex Tutor:** Quick check on what a backup really means. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** naming a backup for refund exceptions is enough, even if the backup has never decided one while Olha is around. **Sofia:** Do I need an org chart for this? **Alex Tutor:** No. A one-page table is enough: work area, owner, backup, and who it hands off to outside the team. > **Exercise:** Which setup fits a **four-person** Support team best? **Alex Tutor:** Now the page itself. What goes into it? > **Exercise:** Which columns belong in the **one-page structure table** for Klasna Support? Choose all that apply. ## Hand-offs with other teams **Alex Tutor:** Most delays in support happen between teams, not inside them. A video failure: the family writes to Support, tutor-ops reschedules the lesson, product fixes the bug. **Alex Tutor:** Three rules make hand-offs work: one owner of the family conversation from start to finish; a written note (what happened, what was tried, what's needed, by when); and a reply time agreed with the other team. **Iryna:** Roman complains the notes he gets say only "see ticket". Product says the same. **Alex Tutor:** Then the note is the fix: a short template, like the three-line note the team already writes before a hand-up. > **Exercise:** Which practices make a hand-off from Support to tutor-ops **clear**? Choose all that apply. ## How many people per lead? **Alex Tutor:** Iryna also asked how many people one lead can handle. That's **span of control**: the number of direct reports. **Alex Tutor:** There's no magic number. It depends on how similar the work is, how experienced people are, and how much time you have for one-to-ones and coaching. **Sofia:** In the spring I had six, and it felt like a lot. Mostly because two were new. **Alex Tutor:** That's the point: new people need more of your time. Plan the span around the time people actually need, not around a rule of thumb. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** there is an ideal number of direct reports, about seven, that every lead should aim for. ## Two lines, one person **Alex Tutor:** Now Roman's request. If a coordinator spends Tuesdays on tutor scheduling, Roman sets those tasks and you stay their lead. That's a **matrix structure**: one person answering to two lines. **Alex Tutor:** It works only with clear decision rights: who sets Tuesday's priorities, what happens when the queue explodes, who gives feedback, and where disagreements between you and Roman go. Not to the coordinator. **Olha:** If you do this, please don't give it to Maryna by default just because she never says no. **Alex Tutor:** Fair. Ask who wants it, make it a stretch with a clear end date, and review it. > **Exercise:** One Support coordinator spends Tuesdays on tutor scheduling: Roman from tutor-ops sets those tasks, and you stay the coordinator's lead. On a Tuesday, Roman asks the coordinator for an urgent scheduling task while the Support queue is overflowing. In a well set-up matrix, what happens? **Alex Tutor:** And Olha's point about Maryna: how do you pick the person? > **Exercise:** Roman from tutor-ops wants one Support coordinator on tutor scheduling every Tuesday. Olha asks you not to give that role to Maryna by default "just because she never says no". How should you choose the person? ## Your reply to Roman **Alex Tutor:** Write Roman a reply that sets up the Tuesday arrangement. **Alex Tutor:** Cover how the person is chosen, what Roman decides and what you decide, the rule for a busy queue, the backup, and when you'll review it. **Sofia:** And if it doesn't work? **Alex Tutor:** It's reversible. Say so, and give the review date. > **Exercise:** Write your **reply to Roman** (4–6 sentences) setting up one Support coordinator on tutor scheduling every Tuesday: how the person is chosen, who decides what, the rule for a busy queue, the backup, and the review date. > **Key ideas** > > - **Team structure** is how work and responsibility are split inside a team: by subject, by channel, or a shared pool. Judge it by few, clear hand-offs and a piece of work each person can own. > - Each shape fails in its own way: subjects leave gaps during vacations, channels are lopsided, a pure pool leaves recurring problems unowned. For a small team, a pool plus a few named owners with practising backups often fits best. > - Most delays happen between teams: one owner of the customer conversation, a short written hand-off note, an agreed reply time. > - **Span of control** has no magic number; plan it around the time people need, especially new ones. > - A **matrix structure** works only with clear decision rights between the two lines; disagreements go to the managers, never to the person in the middle. **Alex Tutor:** Next, the case: July and August with two coordinators on shift, the ticket mix of last summer, and a plan you'll need Iryna to approve. - Previous lesson: [Real options and the pre-mortem](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/options-and-the-pre-mortem.md) - Next lesson: [Case: support for the summer with two people](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/summer-with-two-people-case.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.