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Simple Titles for Small Teams
Jon Matzner
October 26, 2024
Most companies make titles way too complicated.
They end up with Senior Associate Deputy Vice Presidents of whatever, and nobody knows what anyone actually does.
That's crazy.
Here's how I think about titles for small teams.
Three levels.
Dead simple.
Three Levels is Enough
“Do-Ers”/Individual Contributors/Specialists
Owns their work
Handles their schedule
Makes their stuff better
Gets things done
Coordinators/Managers
Connects the dots
Owns their domain
Makes processes better
Helps others get things done
Head of “XYZ”/Leader/Chief XYZ Offier
Sees the big picture
Owns the future
Makes the business better
Helps everyone win
That's it.
No fancy stuff.
No made-up titles to make people feel important.
How to Use This
Pick your function (Marketing, Support, Sales, whatever)
Add one of these three levels
There's your title
Examples:
Hubspot Specialist
Operations Coordinator
Head of Operations
Done. Move on.
The Responsibility Grid
Here's who owns what:
The Mistake
You know what most companies get wrong?
They try to solve organizational problems with fancy titles. But fancy titles don't fix anything - they just create more confusion.
Want to know what actually works?
Clear ownership
Simple hierarchy
Real responsibility
Don't overthink this.
Don't add more levels just because someone asked for a promotion.
Don't create weird hybrid titles because you're afraid of hurting feelings.
Bottom Line
If you can't explain your title system in 5 minutes, it's too complicated.
If someone needs to ask what a title means, it's too complicated.
If you're spending more time thinking about titles than doing actual work, you're definitely doing it wrong.
Simple titles.
Clear responsibilities.
Real work.
That's all you need.
Jon
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