2 Pizza Team
2 Pizza Team turns one mission and supplied capacity into the smallest sufficient core, with clear boundaries, decision rights, interfaces, measures, and a learning rhythm.
Two pizzas are a metaphor for communication discipline, not a fixed headcount rule. Team size follows the mission, the capabilities needed for frequent decisions, and the cost of coordinating the work. A small roster with missing capacity is not autonomous. A large roster full of occasional advisors is not a core team.
This playbook separates the dedicated core from contributors, informed parties, approvers, and dependency interfaces. It preserves supplied allocation, exposes coverage gaps, and keeps staffing decisions with authorized human leaders. The result is a topology proposal, not a named-person assignment or an employment action.
Small is useful only when the team can deliver, learn, and protect its guardrails without rebuilding a committee for every decision.
MISSION Reduce completed intake to confirmed appointment from four days to two days. CUSTOMER People waiting for an appointment confirmation. HORIZON Six months. BOUNDARY Intake completion through confirmation is in scope. Legal policy and security standards remain outside the team's authority.
DEDICATED CORE Six people across five role categories: - Product lead: one person - Engineering: two people - Design: one person - Operations: one person - Analytics: one person RATIONALE The six-person core covers frequent product, build, experience, operational, and measurement decisions. It is not derived from a literal pizza count.
ROUTINE FLOW DECISIONS Accountable role: Product lead Contributors: Engineering, design, operations, analytics Escalate: A regulated claim, security-standard change, or cancellation guardrail breach INTERFACES Legal: Review regulated claim changes at the launch gate. Security: Review security-standard changes at the launch gate.
MEASURES North star: Days from completed intake to confirmed appointment Baseline: Four days Target: Two days Guardrail: Cancellation rate must not exceed the supplied 7 percent baseline DECISION Owner: Product director Date: September 20 Status: Topology proposal for authorized review, not a staffing action.
2-pizza-team/
├── SKILL.md ← design, reset, and audit modes
├── meta.yaml ← version, sources, test prompts, changelog
├── LICENSE.md ← MIT
├── assets/
│ ├── team-topology-proposal-template.md ← mission-team design
│ ├── team-reset-template.md ← evidence-backed reset
│ └── team-topology-audit-scorecard.md ← topology audit
└── references/
├── charter-and-boundaries.md ← mission, core, and interface tests
└── operating-cycle.md ← four-phase learning rhythm"Design team topology for these missions and this headcount."