Men Downa Hole

A saying currently favoured by my boss is "How many men can we fit down this hole?". He's not referring to us as SoftwareLabourers (um, I don't think) but instead the number of people who can work on a subsystem without getting in each other's way ("digging under each other's feet").

For sure this idea will be elsewhere on the wiki .. DividingTheWork?, SharingTasks? ...? There is ProgrammingTeamSize. The XP way seems to be for programmer to agree among themselves (I need to read all that again).

Compare BusTest or TruckNumber (for when one man has by himself dug a hole so deep nobody else will go near it). Compare also PairProgramming, I suppose - but this is only to regard the "man" as a fermion with spin half, therefore two fit in one space.

The book, MythicalManMonth, says that tasks must be "partitionable" for more people to help. "Producing a baby." is a nine month project, and it's not partitionable. Is it partuitionable?

How should I organise this? It's not a pattern, just a saying that illuminates a way of thinking. I'll be back for some gnoming if there's interest. -- MatthewAstley