Concept · Organizational & Team Heuristics
Two-Pizza Teams
Origin: Jeff Bezos
Biological Parallel
Ant colonies partition work into foraging teams of 5-12 individuals—small enough for pheromone trails to coordinate without chaotic interference, large enough to transport food efficiently. Naked mole rat colonies organize in similar-sized work crews that can navigate tunnels and communicate through seismic signals without information overload. The two-pizza rule (~6-10 people) mirrors this biological sweet spot where communication remains dense but coordination costs stay sub-quadratic.