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The concept that smaller teams are more efficient is not new. I've been reading The Mythical Man-Month and it makes this admission right out of the gate. Howeve
by kylec 18y ago
The concept that smaller teams are more efficient is not new. I've been reading The Mythical Man-Month and it makes this admission right out of the gate. However, as the team gets smaller it also limits the size of the projects it can take on. To that end, what the rest of the book is more or less devoted to is how to do large projects with "small" teams by separating orthogonal tasks and more efficiently organizing the communication structure.
In other words, read the book if you haven't already. ;)
- DaniFong 18y agoPredating this is 'A Pattern Language', by Christopher Alexander. It seems that teams of < 8 are universally more productive, with ~5 being optimal (at least in Japanese Culture). 'A Pattern Language' is intriguing and useful because it uses real data, and sociological results, to deduce a theory, and makes specific suggestions for architecture and the usage of space. For example, it's suggested that people use converted homes for workspaces, due to the large variation in room size and privacy, and the presence of places to work, think, cook, eat, play, and relax. It also points out that smaller meetings and workspaces are more productive, and supports this by showing a graph of '% of people never to say anything' or 'ideas not expressed' versus participants in a meeting).