Overview#
DunbarS Numbers is a series of numbers that define a group (Society, Social network or a Community of Interest) sizes that increase by about a factor of three:- 5 - clique
- 15 - sympathy group
- 50 - hunter-gather
- 150 - friends (Also Social network limit)
- An Army Company: 180
- Amish Parishes: 113
- Christmas Card Networks: 150
- 500 - megaband
- 1,500 - tribe
Robin Dunbar implied these limitations are based on the size of the brain.
These groups are sizes within different levels of Relationships.
We have also seen that groups of less than sympathy group referred to as the Creative Network.
DunbarS Numbers and Social contract#
As a Social size moves from a smaller Group to a larger group, the existing Social contract begins to fail. As sizes exceed Friends Group (150) suggests that any Community of Interest will not survive unless it is highly incentivized to remain together.DunbarS Numbers key takeaway?#
The Social contract failure is due to a Human Limitation of how many persons an Individual can have relationships involving trust and Responsibility.Dunbar's study further showed that, one can:
- have a close relationship with a group of about 5 people
- share a level of deep trust with around 15
- have a meaningful relationship with around 50
- and an active contact, stay in touch at least once a year, with about 150 people
In the context of teamwork, like Software development, being able to have a stable social relationship with all the individuals on a team provides the benefits of being able to build and maintain empathy, rapport, trust, safety, and ownership.
Does this not imply that organizations that exceed 50 (hunter-gather) or certainly a 150 (friends) will fail to possess these attributes?
More Information#
There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:- [#1] - Dunbar's number
- based on information obtained 2018-05-02-
- [#2] - The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes - based on information obtained 2018-05-02-