For engineering leaders End the leveling debate. Every engineer wants to know what gets them to the next level. Every manager wants a defensible answer. Most ladders live in a Notion doc nobody opens during reviews. Harmny puts the framework next to the evidence, so promotion decisions stop being arguments and start being data.
Engineering ladder · Backend
L4 → L5 · 5 criteria · framework v3
Criteria progress
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System design review (signed off by principal)
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Cross-team initiative as lead
Q3 migration is open and unowned
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Mentoring at least one mid-level engineer
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On-call rotation ownership
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2 quarters at L4 with strong ratings
Org Brain drafted Ana’s 90-day dev plan · 9.2s
The leveling problem
The framework is a Notion doc. Reviews happen anyway.
"What do I need to do?"
Engineers ask. You guess.
The doc says "demonstrates leadership." That is not a thing an engineer can act on. So they leave for a company that gave them an actual list. You lose your strongest IC over a documentation problem.
Calibration day
Two managers. Same level. Different ratings.
One rates everyone a 5. Another averages 3.2. You can feel the drift. Surfacing it requires a distribution view nobody compiled. So calibration becomes a debate of opinions instead of a conversation about data.
OKR week
Goals in one tool. Reviews in another.
Q3 OKRs in a spreadsheet. Q3 reviews in a separate tool. Neither references the other. So a strong goal-attainment quarter and a weak review can live side by side and nobody notices the contradiction.
The framework is the contract. The reviews are the verdict. When they live in different tools, neither holds up. Harmny puts them in the same place.
Org Brain for engineering
The framework, reading itself.
Once your competency framework lives in Harmny, every evaluation, goal, and 1:1 log becomes structured signal against it. Engineers see their gaps. Managers stop guessing at promotion criteria. You stop running calibration on vibes.
"Who is closest to senior?"
A named list with the criteria each person meets and the one they are missing. The promotion conversation starts before you walk into it.
See AI IntelligenceCalibration drift, by manager.
Live distribution views surface drift before results publish. The leveling debate becomes a data conversation. Managers align on the bar before engineers see their scores.
See People AnalyticsDev plans grounded in your framework.
"Suggest development plan" reads competency scores, gaps, and goals, then drafts a 90-day plan tied to your real ladder. Edit, save, run.
See Development PlansChallenge 01
A career ladder engineers can see and trust.
"What do I need to do to get promoted" is the most common question engineers ask, and the hardest for managers to answer without a real framework. Vague criteria breed frustration and quiet attrition.
Harmny lets you build a transparent ladder with skill categories, weighted competencies, and behavioral indicators per level. Engineers see exactly what is expected at each stage. Managers have an objective basis for the call. The promotion decision becomes a function of evidence, not interpretation.
Challenge 02
OKRs that connect to the review, not orbit it.
Most engineering orgs run OKRs in one tool and reviews in another. The two never reference each other. So a strong delivery quarter and a weak review can sit side by side, and nobody questions the contradiction.
Harmny lets goals cascade from company OKRs down to teams and individuals, with progress feeding directly into the review dashboard. Calibration sees goal attainment alongside competency scores in the same view. The picture is finally whole.
Challenge 03
1:1s that build engineers, not just check a box.
Skip-level. IC sync. EM 1:1. Every week. The cadence is there. What is missing is the context, so the meetings drift toward status updates and away from growth conversations.
Org Brain pulls open goals, recent feedback, framework gaps, and last meeting’s action items into a one-click prep card. The 30 seconds before the meeting becomes the difference between another status check and a real coaching conversation.
Challenge 04
Engineering AI that reads your repo of decisions, not just the web.
Generic AI copilots write code but cannot answer "who on my team is ready for L5" or "what did I tell Marcus last 1:1." That context lives in your org, not in any model’s training data.
Harmny ships an MCP server, so Claude Desktop or Cursor can read your frameworks, goals, and 1:1 logs inside a chat. Plus you can plug in your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key, route every AI call through your account, and keep the audit trail under your contract.
"Our ladder used to live in a Notion doc that engineers opened twice a year. Now it lives next to the data, and the question 'what do I need to do for L5' has a five-bullet answer in 10 seconds. Attrition on senior ICs dropped 34% in two quarters."
Priya Vasan
VP Engineering, Meridian Labs
Why engineering orgs pick Harmny
Ladders that hold up
IC1 to Principal, M1 to M5, with weighted competencies and behavioral indicators. Templates ship for backend, frontend, infra, data, and engineering management. Most teams ship their first framework in a week.
OKRs in the review picture
Goal progress feeds the review dashboard, not a separate tab. Calibration sees attainment and competency scores together. The picture finally connects.
AI that knows your framework
Org Brain answers "who is closest to senior" and drafts dev plans grounded in your real ladder. Connect Claude Desktop or Cursor through MCP for the same context in your AI tools.
Calibration that holds
Live distribution views surface drift before results publish. The leveling debate becomes a data conversation. Managers align before engineers see scores.
1:1 prep in 10 seconds
Open goals, recent feedback, framework gaps, last meeting action items, all surfaced before you walk in. Drift toward status updates stops happening.
Workflow agnostic
No replacement of Jira or Linear. Harmny sits above sprint execution. The career layer your project tools cannot give you.
Common questions from engineering leaders
Clarity. Motivation. Growth. For your whole team.
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