Span of control = number of direct reports per manager.

Compute per manager, then aggregate (average, median, distribution) across the org.

What “too narrow” and “too wide” mean:

Too narrow (SoC < 4): manager-heavy org. Each manager is under-utilized; costs are high for the managerial overhead. Typical symptom: more title inflation, more meetings, slower decisions. Often a sign of historical over-promoting senior ICs into management.
Healthy (SoC 6–10): most knowledge-work orgs land here for ICs reporting to frontline managers.
Too wide (SoC > 12–15): managers can’t actually manage. Coaching, 1:1s, career development all degrade. Often a warning sign of reorg attempts to “flatten” without re-scoping the manager role.

The right SoC depends heavily on role type:

Highly process-driven work (customer support, call center): 15–25 is fine — much of the “management” is protocol.
Complex knowledge work (engineering, product, research): 5–8 is more appropriate because each 1:1 and code review takes more context.
Senior leadership (VP, SVP): 4–6 direct reports is typical; wider means less strategic bandwidth per report.

What to actually report:

Distribution, not average. Histogram of SoC across managers. An average SoC of 7 can hide a bimodal distribution with many 2-report managers and many 15-report managers.
SoC by function and level. Normalize against peer-company norms for each.
Managers with SoC ≤ 2 or = 1. These often indicate “manager-in-name-only” situations or individual-contributor roles miscoded as manager.
Managers with SoC > 15. Flag for closer look — legitimate if the work is highly standardized; problematic if not.
Outliers that correlate with attrition or engagement scores. The real insight is often at the extremes.

Why CPOs care:

Cost control. Narrowing the average SoC by even 1 report per manager across a 5,000-person org cuts hundreds of management positions.
Reorg planning. SoC distribution informs how a reorg’s managerial structure should evolve.
Developmental programs. Managers with wide SoCs need different coaching support than those with narrow ones.

Landmines:

Dotted-line reports complicate the count. Decide a convention (solid-line only is standard) and document it.
Recent org changes. SoC just after a reorg reflects the transition, not the steady state.
International differences. Country norms vary; a “flat” US tech org may look aggressive to a European function.

What is span of control, and when is it too narrow or too wide?

Stuck? Peek at a hint