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:
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.
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?
There might be more information for this subject on one of the following: