The team leader’s time is split between managing the team and their own programming tasks
The team leader must be proficient in the programming language the team is using. They don’t need extensive management skills
Agile ceremonies are fast and nobody is bored. Usually an hour is enough
People skills grow organically. Strict career or onboarding paths aren’t usually needed
A member leaving is a big and long-lasting problem for the team. Capacity to deliver will be impacted for months and the customer will notice. Knowledge will be lost
6 – 9 members
Cooperation is getting harder
The team leader manages the team full-time. They can do some project or architecture work, but cannot take on large programming tasks
The team leader doesn’t have to be proficient in the programming language, but still needs to understand the technologies used to make good project and architectural decisions
Agile ceremonies are getting longer
People skills growth has to be taken into account at least yearly
A member leaving is not usually a big performance hit for the team
10+ members
Team members don’t know what other people are doing. You need many more sync meetings to keep everyone on the same page
The team leader is a manager only. There is little time for product or project involvement. This makes hiring easier—you can hire for people skills rather than technical expertise
Agile ceremonies are long and boring. Planning can take half a day
It’s hard to seat the team around one table in a restaurant or in a reasonably-sized office
You need to assign senior engineers to mentor newbies during onboarding. Onboarding must be prepared before new members arrive
A member leaving isn’t a big hit for the team—there will always be someone leaving
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