#131 The team sizing
Happy Sunday, everyone.
Prefer to listen to this week’s issue? Go here: The team size.
Let’s try a new format that’s more “notes” like. For each issue / episode I’ll share with you my (actual) best notes from the week. The categories will stay consistent with business, leadership, marketing, family, etc.
In an effort to write more, my hope is to also release longer essays on a single topic or idea every month or so.
Let me know what you think. And if you feel so inclined, please share with a friend who you believe would benefit and enjoy.
Here are my notes for last week…
Notes on leadership
We’ve all heard the saying:
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
When it comes to leading teams, this quote can be used as a guide for optimal team sizing.
Small teams of one or two can work fast and make decisions quickly. They don’t get slowed down by management or typically produce half-baked work.
Larger teams are great at tackling audacious and ambitious ideas. If you’re changing the way the world communicates or sending the masses to Mars, you’re going to want more people involved. It’s not just about the resources. It’s also about leveraging different personalities, fields of expertise, and approaches to solving the problem at hand.
Two examples:
- We recently released a lot of updates to Wavve’s core product. Most of the small feature enhancements and optimizations were scoped and completed quickly by one team member who took ownership of the whole effort. However, to accomplish the bigger vision of the product as an audio marketing platform, we need to increase the team size. In this case, it’s better to utilize the talents of 4-5 people to build a more comprehensive application, touching many aspects of marketing for audio creators.
- When I freelanced as a copywriter, my design partner, Elliot, and I could go from concept to production for ad campaigns in 1/3 of the time, often getting our clients to market faster than their competition.
At the end of the day, right-sizing your team comes down to what outcome you want.
Want to move with speed and precision? Stay small.
Want to change the world? Size up.
Until next time, friends.
-David
P.S. Impressive to watch: Guy makes bonsai tree out of wire
P.P.S. Enjoyed this one from Divinations: Will DAOs replace corporations?