What’s the “Bus Factor”?
The bus factor is a thought experiment: 👉 How many people on your team would need to get hit by a bus before the project is doomed?
- Bus Factor (noun): The number of team members that must be lost before your project fails.
- A low bus factor = risky.
- A high bus factor = resilient.
Why a High Bus Factor Is Valuable
A high bus factor means that knowledge and expertise are distributed across the team.
✅ More flexibility: Managers can assign tasks to multiple engineers who understand a system.
✅ Better reviews: More peers can give meaningful feedback.
✅ Fewer bottlenecks: Releases don’t stall if one key person is unavailable.
Exampl
- If 3 engineers know the billing system, tasks can flow to any of them.
- If only 1 engineer knows it, you have a silo and a bottleneck.
How to Increase Your Team’s Bus Factor
- Encourage small and frequent commits → Keeps the codebase transparent and easy to follow.
- Foster active code reviews → Healthy debate spreads understanding and improves quality.
- Onboard effectively → Ensure new hires get exposure to critical systems early.
- Rotate responsibilities → Don’t let one person always handle the same subsystem.
- Document knowledge → Architecture notes, ADRs, and READMEs reduce single points of failure.
Final Thoughts
A strong team isn’t just about writing code—it’s about sharing knowledge. The higher your bus factor, the safer your project, your releases, and your company’s future.
🚀 Build teams that thrive, not ones that survive by relying on a single expert.