An Elegant Puzzle, Part 1: Move Domains, Not People

Evgeny Sergeev, a senior engineering manager at Flo Health, examines Will Larson's An Elegant Puzzle. Built from independent essays, the book works as a reference for an experienced manager: open the chapter that matches a current problem, apply its advice to your context, and test it in practice.

The discussion starts with organizational design. A new team made only of newcomers transfers culture poorly, a very small team becomes a leaky abstraction, and an excessive span of control turns a manager into a shallow coach. For on-call coverage, several related teams can sometimes share responsibility at unit level.

Teams move through states from falling behind to innovating. Leaders should limit work in progress, give a mature team room to improve, and move domains rather than break up a well-functioning group. Sequential investment produces value sooner than spreading small amounts of effort across every initiative.

Hypergrowth overloads hiring, culture, and internal tooling, so processes need to become systematic. Larson's toolkit includes auditing time and delegating, systems thinking with feedback loops, and connecting vision to strategy. Strategy starts with a diagnosis, guiding policies, and actions; a migration ends only when the old system is shut down.