Brooks' Law Simulator

Visualize how communication complexity grows in teams.

Connections 0
Complexity 0%

Map Legend

Team Members

Each node represents a person in the team.

Communication Channels

Required information pathways

Coordination Effort

Actual information flow between members

The Brooks' Law Principle

Formulated by Fred Brooks in his 1975 classic "The Mythical Man-Month", this principle highlights the counterintuitive effect of adding more people to a delayed software project—it often causes even greater delays.

Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.

Nine women can't have a baby in one month

- Frederick P. Brooks Jr.

Communication Complexity

C(n) =
n (n − 1) 2

Where C(n) represents the number of unique communication channels for n team members, meaning that as the team grows, interactions increase rapidly.

Growth Type: Quadratic Complexity (O(n²)) — More team members lead to a sharp rise in communication links, making coordination increasingly complex.