Not Brooks, but someone estimated productivity goes up about as the 0.7 power of team size. Using that exponent, two people can do 1.6 times as much work as on

Not Brooks, but someone estimated productivity goes up about as the 0.7 power of team size. Using that exponent, two people can do 1.6 times as much work as one person so each is about 80% as productive. Ten people can do 5 times as much work as one person, so each is half as productive. Twenty five people can do 9.5 times as much work, and each member is 38% as productive as single person. Split those twenty five into five non-interacting teams of five people, and they can do 15.4 times as much work as one person. Obviously real life isn't as precise as these formulas, but they provide some guidance. This book https://www.microsoftpressstore.com/store/rapid-development-9781556159008 https://www.microsoftpressstore.com/store/rapid-development-... has tables about the limits of what can be done. The biggest takeaway is that some projects simply can't be done faster than a certain way limit. The only way around those limits is to find a way to reduce the size of the project. Either cut scope, or find a way to write less code, typically with a more powerful programming environment.