Horizons v1.5 - Size Doesn't Matter
Helm Experience & Design
Software Strategy, Design, and Development that will keep you ahead of competition.
This newsletter was originally sent on February 7, 2024. You can subscribe here.
In a world where the mantra was previously “growth at all costs” and "go big or go home," the idea that small teams can deliver big results may seem counterintuitive.
After all, doesn’t a large team mean more brainpower, more skills, more work done, and ultimately, more success?
Nope.
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The Hidden Costs
It’s a classic game of "telephone." The more people in the circle, the more garbled the original message becomes. This is exactly what happens when bigger teams communicate. Each handoff from one person to another increases the chances of misunderstandings and mistakes. Don’t even get me started on remote work.
In some instances it’s not that big of a deal. Other times, it means missing your moon landing. You should aim to remove variables and therefore decrease the risk.
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More Hand Offs, Syncing, Meetings
A relay race can be lost in the handoff and so can a software project. Each time a something moves from one individual to another— which happens A LOT with agile teams— there’s a risk of information loss, misinterpretation, or human error.
In big teams, items often passes through many hands, each one a potential weak link in the chain. Reduce risk by removing handoffs.
It’s simply more expensive. More people mean more salaries, benefits, and overhead. Your business engine has to work harder to pull all that extra weight.
Large teams might offer more skills on paper but they come with a steeper price tag, ultimately affecting your return. This is the clearest reason for any business owner to stay small when creating technology.
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Why are smaller teams better?
Agility and Adaptability
Small teams are like speedboats compared to the bulky cruise ships that are large teams. They can change course rapidly, adapting to new information or shifting priorities without having to navigate through layers of bureaucracy. In software, this is the game.
Expect change and be prepared to handle it.
Communication Simplified
In a smaller team, everyone is in the loop. Communication becomes less of a game of 'Telephone' and more of a focused discussion where everyone contributes.
My personal favorite part about this is that it leads to faster decision-making and a team that's regularly on the same page.
Today I prompted my partner, Nicholas Barone, "Imagine everyone was in the same room for one month, we'd get incredibly amounts of work done because we'd remove the waiting and the confusion of remote communication".? Timelines that might double otherwise!
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Ownership and Accountability
When there are fewer people working on a project, each person's contribution is more visible. Read that again.
Like cooking dinner for two versus catering an event. In a small setting, everyone knows who made the shitty salad. This heightened visibility leads to greater ownership and accountability for results.
Less people = more visibility. It’s a win/win/win/win for the timeline, budget, business, and end user.
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Enabled by AI
You know, it’s here. It's probably integrated in parts of your daily workflow. Large Language Models (LLMs) are changing the rules of team size and enabling smaller groups to achieve big things.
Altman says AI will allow for one person to build a billion dollar company.
Automation capabilities mean you no longer need “humans” to handle things like analysis and QA testing; you can let “the bots” take care of it*. This frees up your humans to focus on what they do best, innovating and problem solving.
(*It’s not complete delegation but it can save large percentages of people’s time.)
It’ll also allow you to get actionable insights into your business and product that previously required teams to extract. This means more data-driven decisions and the surfacing of all sorts of leading indicators for your company. Indicators, indicators, indicators. Conjure your inner Andy Grove.
So, when it comes to software development teams, or team composition in general, size really doesn’t matter — at least not in the way you might think.
It's not about how many people you have; it's about having the right people. It's about a team that communicates well, adapts quickly, takes ownership, and efficiently turns visions into reality.
Remember - it’s not the size of the boat but the motion of the ocean.
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Stay up,
Jonathan
Co-Founder and Partner
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Read to future-proof your business?? Helm is Strategy, Design, Product, and Software Development studio in Buffalo, NY. Our clients include ACV Auctions, OnCore Golf,?ODL Ortho, and more.?
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