"Titles don't matter in our organization” you might say. Then what do you do when developer “X” ask for a promotion? How do you identify and point out the skills that he/she should develop first? And what about level-setting new hires? In both scenarios, you'd need an effective career ladder for software engineers at hand. Take it as both an expectations-setting tool (for you) and as a professional goal-setting tool (for your team). One that would: clearly define all job roles and career milestones, make available all the expectations and objectives associated with each role...