Organizing SaaS for Parallel Development Tracks

Many SaaS executives face a critical challenge: how do you build tomorrow’s ServaaS offering while keeping today’s systems running? The answer lies not just in technology decisions, but in how you structure your engineering teams. The right organizational design can make the difference between a smooth transition and a costly failure. Let’s explore how to organize your SaaS team for parallel development tracks.

The Parallel Development Dilemma

When you’re running a successful SaaS product while simultaneously developing its next-generation ServaaS version, you’re essentially managing two distinct products with overlapping concerns. Traditional team structures often struggle with this reality.

The classic approach of having a single team maintain the legacy system while another team builds the new platform sounds wonderful in theory. In practice, it creates knowledge silos, competing priorities, and cultural divides: “maintenance mode” versus “innovation focus.” This division can lead to resentment, talent retention issues, and poor outcomes for both systems.

The Matrix Model: Functional Meets Product-Focused

A more effective approach is the matrix model, where engineers have dual allegiances – to both their functional expertise (e.g., backend, frontend) and to a specific product initiative. This creates natural knowledge sharing while allowing specialized focus. In this model, the same backend engineer might dedicate 60% of their time to legacy system maintenance and 40% to new ServaaS development. This ensures technical decisions across both systems remain harmonized while preventing complete context-switching.

Shared Core Services Teams

Consider establishing a “Platform Services” team responsible for components used by both systems. This team builds and maintains shared infrastructure, authentication mechanisms, and data pipelines that bridge both worlds. This approach allows your platform team to gradually modernize core components used by both systems, creating an evolutionary path rather than a revolutionary break.

The Integration Team: Your Bridge Builders

One of the most successful patterns is creating a dedicated “Integration Team” composed of engineers who deeply understand both systems. This small, elite team focuses exclusively on ensuring compatibility, planning migration paths, and building adapters between old and new architectures. By investing in this connective tissue, you gain flexibility in how quickly different components migrate to the new platform, allowing for incremental wins rather than a risky “big bang” transition.

Rotation Programs Build System Empathy

Consider implementing a rotation program where engineers temporarily move between legacy and new development. Even short rotations of 2-4 weeks can dramatically improve cross-system understanding and empathy. This practice prevents the common “not invented here” syndrome where new system developers disregard the legitimate constraints and strengths of the legacy platform.

Cultural Considerations

Team structure isn’t just about organizational charts – it’s about culture. Explicitly value and reward work on both systems. The engineer who resolves a critical legacy system issue deserves as much recognition as the one who builds an exciting new ServaaS feature.

Organizing for Parallel Development Tracks

As an executive, your most important role in this evolution is setting clear expectations around timelines and outcomes. Be transparent about the inherent tensions in parallel development tracks and celebrate the incremental progress that moves your organization forward. By thoughtfully designing your engineering organization for this parallel reality, you create the foundations for a successful transition that preserves what works today while building what you’ll need tomorrow.