Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Eric Scheuing
Three people!?! We had about 6 on average working, and around 10 total who were "part of the CAD team." You guys hav amazing inventor skills.
|
I know this post's been around a bit, but I just thought about it a little, so here goes:
For many situations, three is the perfect number for a team. Three is a low enough number that everyone can operate on an equal level, without the need for a "captain" to oversee them. This also eliminates the need for someone to find work for the underlings, which was a huge problem on our CAD team (3 Seniors, 1 Jr. in his 2nd year on CAD, and three utter n00bs (myself included) with mechanical (me), architectural CAD, or no experience). The new kids were often forced to sit on their hands because the leadership couldn't spend all of their time giving us work to do. If they had, they couldn't have accomplished anything themselves.
On the other hand, three people eliminate the power struggles that are inevitable in a two-man/woman team. The third person acts as the check and balance in a disagreement, weighing in to support the sensible side.
The result of all of this is that a three person team seems just about right for a task of this size. I'm sure that many teams have had ample success with larger teams and better organization, but my point is not to count out the smaller teams.