In The Mythical Man Month, Fred Brooks points out that in a team of n members there are n(n-1)/2 potential links, leading to an n-squared scaling with team size.

A team of 15 has 50 percent more links than a team of 12, more than twice the links of a team of 10, and five times as many links as a team of seven. This is broadly consistent with the conclusions previously discussed under The maximum team size for effective working.

Time is limited, and each relationship requires time for maintenance. Because of this, it is practical to keep working groups small. Some claim the sweet spot is around a team as small as seven. For our purposes, we will place the practical upper limit at 12, based on an observed sociological phenomenon known as an empathy group . Larger teams can exist, but they will usually factor into sub-teams.

From an article in CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering.

Bioteams Books Reviews

Mobile phone users: are we now cyborgs

March 28, 2007 | article by Ken Thompson in Book Reviews (37)

The term cyborg is used to designate an organism which is a mixture of organic and synthetic parts so designed to enhance its abilities via technology. William Mitchell a professor at MIT Media Lab believes that through our mobile devices we are all becoming mobile cyborgs and its for the better. In his book Me++: The Cyborg Self and the Networked City which he discusses in an interview with James Harkin Mitchell describes how the new communications technologies have overlaid our city spaces with central nervous systems connecting us into the wireless ether via our mobile devices which act as umbilical cords to anchor us into the information society's digital infrastructure.

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