Why Small Teams Win because of Communication Complexity
“Metcalfe’s law says that every time you add a new user to a network, the number of connections increases proportionally to the square of the number of users. This is technology, BUT
What does that mean for your organization and your teams?
Imagine how social interactions need to increase to communicate and inform properly in large teams.
The structure of the mind is that it can’t really handle very large numbers of relationships. Scientists like Robin Dunbar have told us for decades that our social world is very small-scale.
They say there are approximately 5 people we can have tight relationships with, and another 15 people we can have slightly less intense relationships with. Think of sports teams, for example. They are rarely being bigger than 15 people.
One result is evident in progressive organizations. They have departed far from traditional managerial hierarchies. Instead, they structure themselves as decentralized networks of teams.
These networks have no (or few) middle managers. They feature highly autonomous teams where members take care of communication, coordination, and contracting themselves.
But as Metcalfe’s Law shows, when there are no managers, teams must be small. And small enough that members do not get overloaded with communication and information which our brains can’t handle!”
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