The Pizza Principle
I just read a fantastic article by Chad Stoller of the media shop Organic over on ClickZ called “Where Has All of the Innovation Gone?” In it he bemoans the lack of enthusiasm and excitement he’s starting to see in his (widget) development team. He fondly remembers the fire and spirit of the early days of the web, where people were afraid to sleep because they might miss something.
Now, I’m not going to go that far - I (and the people around me) desperately need my sleep. But the suggestions Chad made to reenergize the office were excellent. It was hard to pick a favorite, but here’s the most practical:
“The Pizza Principle John Manoogian III, a former Organic and long-time friend insists work can only get done in a small team. The more people you add, the greater your chances of distraction and project disruption. So, he insists that if you ever need to order more than two pizzas to feed your team, your team is too big. I agree. Smaller teams force greater responsibility and decision making onto fewer people. And those on a smaller team will be responsible for answering their own questions and avoid the lingering delays associated with, “I’m waiting for someone to call me back.”"
Check out the entire article for more inspiration - involving Etch-a-Sketches and “Working off Scraps.” I’ve just exposed a slice of the wisdom in the article.
The guy can write.
