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Dharmesh Shah (Founder of Hubspot) actually gave a decent talk at Business of Software on this: http://thebln.com/talk/lessons-from-the-trenches-in-scaling-...
I think he can say it far better than I could.
That being said, I think it's something alot of companies go through when growing. It's important though!
I would be constructively explicit early about the things you are uncomfortable about and try and articulate them to get a story going about what is changing. This way either you can adapt, or find out if others share your feelings, or you can decide if there's still a fit. Culture is key - once the culture (often the engineering culture) goes/radically changes, it signifies big changes ahead. Also - for the new people (PMs especially) - talk to them constructively to see if they can explain what they are bringing to the table, and also what they see as culturally valuable.
It's your problem. See it positive: - The company is growing - You guys do something right - The CEO is doing something right - Fast growth or just growth is never easy for an organization - But if everybody is proactive and empathic then you make it easier for the organization and all folks involved => Go out, see new opportunities and be proactive—growth brings always new opportunities for everyone It's you and you…
> It's your problem
He already knows this. He said so in the post. That's probably why you were downvoted.
Change is usually unsettling. It would be probably be worse if suddenly the company removed that many positions when having them was the normal. That said, there are certain sizes at which organizational structure needs to undergo quantum change. Thresholds I've heard are ~10 [two pizzas], ~30, ~200. This means that some of the change when an organizational structure hits one of these is more or less permanent. That…
In case of military units look at the end of page. Basic unit is squad (4-10 soldiers), next is platoon (3-4 squads/16-40 soldiers).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number
[2] http://www.army.mil/info/organization/unitsandcommands/oud/
> I just want advice on how to keep things weird while growing.
That one was easy: get everyone that is new involved in the weirdness. Culture isn't strictly policy, it's people and it's your job to make sure that the culture doesn't die. Involve new people in the culture. If the new management gets in the way of the culture it is your responsibility to communicate that risk.
> The HR manager scares me, although I am not sure why.
Have lunch with them. That HR manager is more scared than you are. They are coming into a company with close friends and a culture that they have no idea about. Be inviting and friendly.
There have been a lot of attempts to crack that nut and most have been unsuccessful.
First you need to realize what is going on when you grow.
1) The more people you hire the more you erode the culture you had. Therefore be very mindful of what kind of people you hire and be quick to realize if they don't fit the culture (even though they might be good). I.e. hire slow, fire fast.
2) Have a set of principles that make you comfortable. If you don't like bullshit have a no bullshit rule, if you don't like agression have a be polite rule. The point is that you will need to be able to see yourself in those principles.
3) Always make it your failure that people are leaving and lear what you can do better next time. Even if it's a person who were really bad for the culture it's your failure. Even if they leave for a better job it's your failure that there is a better job. Find ways within your capabilities to deal with these failures.
4) Most importantly. Make sure people know they are there because they are good enough. I cannot tell you how important this and how many great cultures it has destroyed. Doubting leads to sub-optimale work. Instead of creating a competitive environment create an environment where people feel safe and cherished, that way they will perform much better, at least in my experience.
Last but no least. I rarely make book recommendations but Ed Catmulls (from Pixar) book "Creativity Inc" deals with this exact problem. I can't recommend this book enough. It's so filled with wisdom and perspective and as a bonus a surprisingly good mini Steve Jobs biography.
To give you some of the insights from the book I can recommend you listen to this talk he did http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=3299
That might give you some things to look for and see if you can find ways to address them whether you run the company or you work for it.
Job #1 of HR is to protect the company from its employees. The reason for hiring a HR professional (weirdly they never refer to themselves as "resources") is that the owners or managers now feel that they need that protection. There's a gulf now between management and workers, that perhaps was a narrow stream before. You've instinctively grasped this, that's where your apprehension comes from.
The HR manager scares me, although I am not sure why. Job #1 of HR is to protect the company from its employees. The reason for hiring a HR professional (weirdly they never refer to themselves as "resources") is that the owners or managers now feel that they need that protection. There's a gulf now between management and workers, that perhaps was a narrow stream before. You've instinctively grasped this, that's where…
It is more likely that the owners wanted to recruit great talent, have someone whos mission is to create a nice everyday environment, help spot and train leadership or any other number of things that the HR professionals, I've had the pleasure of meeting in my career, are great at and care about.
Between large evil corporations and tiny lean teams, there are variety of companies where a HR professional can help you make it or break it.
I've just skimmed through it, here are the key points I've found:
1) Change is not a single step. It involves several stages, one of them being chaos.
2) Chaos implies that things look worse than they used to be. People feel less comfortable and want to go back to old ways. Their reactions are emotional, not rational.
3) "You never improve if you can't change at all"
I recommend entire book. If you work in software business, I think you should know it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peopleware:_Productive_Project...
If you're being pushed away, if you don't like the future view, if you're being told to talk to someone else or that this is none of your business I'd weigh carefully if you still want to be a part of this company in the longer term and if you decide not to to start looking for an opportunity to jump ship on your terms with your current job as your fall-back plan in case nothing really interesting comes by soon enough.
Lastly, I'm not sure if it is 100% your problem. Some of it obviously is, the need to professionalize will be felt in any growing company, it's hard to take a company from 3 to 30 people without losing something in the process. But not all needs to be lost and to have buy-in of the old-timers and to communicate openly with them is super important in managing that transition gracefully and effectively and this may be where your management is currently not doing the best job they could (but there is too little information in your message to determine that with any accuracy).
Best of luck!