Team Structure

Team Size

• Recommended team size: 5-9 people (Two Pizza Rule)
• Teams that are too small lack diversity; teams that are too large have high communication overhead
• As the business grows, consider splitting the team rather than expanding indefinitely

Role Distribution

• Clearly define each person's role and responsibilities — avoid ambiguity
• Role distribution isn't a limitation — it's about clarifying primary responsibilities
• Encourage cross-role collaboration, but every task should have a clear owner

T-Shaped Talent

• T-shaped talent: Deep expertise in one area (the vertical bar) with understanding of other areas (the horizontal bar)
• Teams need T-shaped talent to ensure flexibility and resilience
• Develop T-shaped capabilities through rotation and cross-domain tasks
• Balance specialists and generalists — core domains need specialists

Succession Planning

• Critical roles and critical knowledge shouldn't be held by just one person
• Develop backups to reduce single-point-of-failure risk
• Document knowledge to reduce dependence on individuals
• Regularly assess whether the team's talent pipeline is healthy