The exact size of tiny teams will vary by organization and the needs of the feature set or product they are developing. “Today’s tiny teams typically have 4–5 members, but some require as few as 2–3, which will become more common as employee skills and AI capabilities mature,” said Camacho. “Most importantly, tiny teams should be small enough to stay nimble and effective, and big enough to promote diversity of ideas or alternate viewpoints.”
As tiny teams are supported by robust platform engineering teams, they can focus on high-value work by providing standardized, automated workflows and self-service AI tools and capabilities.
“Slowing junior-level hiring could limit recruitment to more expensive and competitive senior roles.” – Aliyah Camacho, Principal Analyst at Gartner
In a tiny team, traditional software engineering role boundaries collapse, as each team member manages a variety of responsibilities, from understanding business goals to product design and overseeing AI agents.
“Slowing junior-level hiring could lead to significant pitfalls, including inhibiting knowledge transfer, restricting the internal talent pipeline, and limiting recruitment to more expensive and competitive senior roles,” said Camacho.
Gartner predicts that by 2028, organizations that rely on AI to cut junior roles will hollow out their own software engineering talent pipeline.
