Google has eliminated 35% of managers overseeing small teams in past year

Around 5 is the correct number for a first line manager of a technical team. Go to 10 and it’s impossible to keep track of things. The day has only so many hours. Managing takes time.

For bigger teams (10+) you either need individuals who are very independent and driven, or have dependable line managers.

> Go to 10 and it’s impossible to keep track of things. The day has only so many hours. Managing takes time.

I've actually had better experiences with higher employee:manager ratios for this reason.

When the manager can't possibly be involved in everything they're forced to let go, delegate, and skip the management busywork.

My worst experiences have been at companies with one manager per 2-3 employees and skip-level managers who were expected to be involved as well. It was a never-ending stream of meetings, weekly hour-long 1:1s with multiple people, goal setting, personal development exercises, and a growing list of scheduled distractions.

The managers felt like they needed to make work to justify their managerial roles, so our time got filled with meetings and activities that didn't contribute to anything other than making the manager feel good about doing things they heard about in podcasts and books.