This is something I said in a talk on high performing teams recently that resonated with a few folks.

In my experience the most effective teams are small, between 3-5 members, and the most effective organisations are the ones that manage to stay small overall.

Why might this be? Fewer people streamlines communication: a 3-member team has 3 channels, a 5-member one has 10. It rises exponentially with every person you add.

In small teams, alignment is more organic. Greater shared understanding fosters greater autonomy and more informed decision making.

“Better” is not just about technical expertise. Behaviours are just as important, if not more so (teamwork, communication, adaptability and so on).

In a high performing team, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

With an underperforming team adding more people will most likely slow things down (it may not look like at first because everyone is “busy”, but it will).

How can you stay small? Do less, better.