[ARIN-consult] Community Consultation on Increasing the Size of the ARIN Board of Trustees

[Bill Woodcock]

> On May 13, 2017, at 6:12 AM, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
> The size of effective decision-making bodies has been studied. A lot. Essentially every study says: odd number. As for which odd number...
> seven:  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rule-of-7-the-ideal-work-group-size/
> 4.6 (five): https://sheilamargolis.com/2011/01/24/what-is-the-optimal-group-size-for-decision-making/
> 20 or more tend to deadlock and for some weird reason exactly 8 is very bad: http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/01/15/the-right-or-wrong-size-for-a/ 
> The most common numbers the studies report as an optimal size for decision-making bodies seem to be five and seven.

So we’re past 4.6, past 5, now we’re past 7 and have arrived at the worst possible number of 8.

I’d agree that 4.6-5 is good, and in my experience, out of 7, there are always a couple of non-participants, so it always wound up being more like five active participants anyway.

Full disclosure: my wife’s work has took me and my family to Hong Kong at the end of January, and we’re just returning to the States next Monday, so for the better part of the last four months, I’ve been the non-participant.

                                -Bill