Job definitions and evaluation systems : On the team growth stage

Teams of 3 people don't need clear job divisions.

Everyone can see all the work and knows what others are doing. When a team grows to about 5 people, jobs start to be divided. For example, A and B work on the product, C and D handle sales and marketing, and E supports and manages. This creates a horizontal division of work. When the team reaches about 10 people, senior and junior roles appear. This starts a vertical division of work. With over 20 people, C-level positions and team leaders emerge, adding more vertical layers. The team keeps dividing both horizontally and vertically, like product roles splitting into development and planning, and development further splitting into front-end and back-end.

Teams grow more complex like cells dividing.

As work becomes more complex, it needs to be checked. This is why evaluation systems are created. Small teams don't need them because everything is visible. Evaluation systems are made when work performance isn't easily seen. That's why families don't need evaluation systems.

The main purpose of evaluation is to measure how well someone does their job. Goals are set to push the team and its members in a better direction. It's important to remember that doing the basic job well is expected, even if it's not mentioned in the goals.

In smaller teams, doing the basic job is more important because there aren't many people to cover if someone fails. So, small teams often don't need special goals. Startups with a few dozen people might need extra goals to grow further.

Many teams don't manage their evaluations and goals well as they grow. Some small teams with less than 10 people create complex evaluation systems, which is like having a bicycle with too many gauges - it's not efficient. Some larger teams with over 50 people don't check how work is being done, which is like driving a car without any gauges.

Teams should create job definitions and evaluation systems that fit their growth stage.

Start simple and gradually make them more complex as the team grows, just like a single cell develops into a complete human. This way, a simple team can grow into an impressive, evolved organization.