---
title: Brook's Law - Adding People Slows Projects
date: 2025-09-28T00:00:00
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
I was sitting in my favorite chair, watching the sunlight dance on the wall, sipping some lukewarm coffee that I'd forgotten about for too long, the way I do every morning. Maybe you know the feeling? That slightly bitter tang that’s somehow comforting. Anyway, I was thinking about how I'd been scrolling through my phone more than usual. Instagram or maybe Facebook—can't remember. Just mindlessly tapping, seeing faces I haven’t seen in forever or people I don't even know. Then I remembered something about my team at work. We've been struggling to finish this project on time. It's a bit of a mess, really. And it got me thinking about something I read, maybe in a book or an article, about how adding more people to a project actually slows it down. Brook's Law? I think that's what it's called.
It's funny though. You’d think more hands would mean faster work, right? I mean, like, when I decide, pretty much every January, to get fit or whatever, I always feel like maybe joining another class or buying some new gear will help. But then I just end up doing nothing. So maybe there’s something to it—this idea that more isn’t always better. I don't know. I think the original idea of Brook’s Law was from this guy Fred Brooks, back in the 70s? I think he worked on, like, early IBM projects or something. But, details get fuzzy when you're not sure where you read things. Something about adding new people creating more communication overhead and needing to get them up to speed. That sounds logical. But what if they’re really fast learners?
I’ve been part of teams where they just throw people at the problem, thinking it'll solve everything, but it just seemed like there were too many cooks in the kitchen, you know? Everyone has their own way of doing things, and then there's a constant back-and-forth, and nothing really gets done. But then again, maybe I’m just misremembering. Sometimes people do come in and shake things up in a good way.
It’s kind of like when I thought deleting apps would give me more free time. But then I just end up refreshing my email a million times. So, like, maybe the problem isn’t really the number of people, but how they're being used, or, I don’t know, directed? Or motivated? Does that make sense? I think there was a study, or maybe it was just a movie, about how too many voices create chaos? But then simplicity isn't always the answer either. I don't have the logistics sorted.
And, really, who am I to say? I've never managed a big team. I barely manage myself out of bed every morning. Maybe there's a way to add people without slowing things down, but I haven't figured it out. Maybe it depends on the kind of people you add. Or maybe it's just the nature of the task.
I guess I’ll keep scrolling my phone until I figure out the answer or until some new theory pops up. Who knows? It all feels like a big jigsaw puzzle with a bunch of missing pieces. But maybe that's okay. I don't know.