Why a Great Individual Is Better Than a Good Team
Consider the two fundamental laws of networks: both Metcalfe’s Law and Reed’s Law assume that as a network of people grows, the value of the network increases substantially. (In Metcalfe’s Law, the value of the network is proportional to the square of the number of people in the network, whereas Reed’s Law demonstrates that the value for any individual within a network grows exponentially with every new member.) But with individuals, the opposite is true: The value of a contributor decreases disproportionately with each additional person contributing to a single project, idea, or innovation.
This is true across all areas but only so far as there are discrete pieces of work to be done. To be sure, there is clear value in having a marketing person work with a programmer on a project or a biologist working with a chemist on a problem. Proper team building is a powerful thing. But when an activity can be performed sufficiently by one person with adequate skills, doing the activity as a group should be avoided.
Source: HBR
