Question · Organization
What's the right team size?
The Short Answer
Team size should optimize for coordination cost vs. capability. Small teams (5-8) minimize coordination overhead but limit capability. Larger teams increase capability but with diminishing returns per person. The 'right' size depends on task complexity and interdependence.
Biological Insight
Social species show consistent patterns in group sizing. Communication channels grow quadratically with group size (n × (n-1) / 2), so coordination costs explode faster than headcount. But different tasks have different optimal group sizes - foraging parties, hunting groups, and defensive formations all have different optima based on task requirements.
Key Questions to Ask Yourself
- How interdependent is the work?
- How many communication channels are actually needed?
- Can the work be decomposed into independent modules?
- What's the cost of coordination failure?
- Is the team self-sufficient or dependent on external interfaces?
Common Mistakes
- Assuming 'two-pizza teams' are always optimal (some problems require larger groups)
- Adding people to accelerate work (often slows things down)
- Not redesigning work when teams grow past coordination limits
- Keeping teams small but creating many cross-team dependencies (moving coordination costs, not eliminating them)