> BTW. Figuring it who is the core team is not that complicated. You just ask everybody to name five people who are doing well and who they want to work with ag

> BTW. Figuring it who is the core team is not that complicated. You just ask everybody to name five people who are doing well and who they want to work with again (in the next company). Then, sort employees by votes, and viola, at the top, you will get your true core team (which may not match perfectly to seniority, number of lines of code written, etc.). Doubt. Employees often have very imperfect information into what other employees are doing in their day to day jobs. The team that looks lazy because they don't immediately prioritize your bugs and requests may be understaffed compared to the operational load. And unsexy jobs that keep the operation running may be done very well by people who aren't part of the most popular kids, but you'll wind up missing them once they're gone.