The Two-slice Team

February 15, 2026

Here's something that might surprise you — despite the famous 'two-pizza rule' from Amazon, team sizes for software development are actually shrinking. Dan Shipper, writing in Chain of Thought, points out that back in 2002, Jeff Bezos insisted teams should be small enough to share two pizzas — roughly 10 people — because that meant better communication. But here’s the catch: with modern tools like Opus 4.6 and Codex 5.3, the ideal team size is dropping even further. Now, smaller teams aren’t just more efficient — they’re almost necessary for building fast, innovative software. So what does this mean for you? Whether you’re managing a startup or leading a project, don’t get stuck on old rules. The future favors even leaner teams that can adapt and move quickly. As Dan Shipper highlights, the old 'two-pizza' idea is evolving — and it’s something every busy professional should be thinking about when scaling their own work.

by Dan Shipper

in Chain of Thought

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For the past two decades, Amazon’s “two-pizza rule” has been the gold standard for team size.

The story goes like this: At a company retreat in 2002, when Amazon managers wanted more communication, Jeff Bezos fired back that “communication is terrible!” A few weeks later, he restructured the company around small autonomous teams. If a team had more than 10 people—more than could be fed by two pizzas—it was too big.

Twenty-four years later, two-pizza teams are now themselves too big for building software products. When each employee is armed with Opus 4.6 and Codex 5.3, the ideal team size shrinks even further.

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