[Nulab Survey] About 70% Respond That "Workload Increases with More People," Team Management Limit is 24.5 People on Average

Nulab Inc. (Headquarters: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, hereinafter Nulab) conducted a "Survey on Workload and Management in Response to Team Size Increase" targeting 600 individuals with experience participating in and increasing team members.

In recent years, with organizational expansion and personnel increases, more companies are facing challenges such as "information sharing not keeping up" and "spending too much time on progress checks." This survey revealed the actual workload associated with progress checks, information sharing, and explanation/coordination tasks that arise from increased team size, as well as changes in management structures in team operations.

Survey Summary

Approximately 70% (66.3%) responded that "workload and progress management increased" due to an increase in team members. This figure reached 81.5% among those with leadership experience, indicating that management load is concentrated on leaders.

The most frequently cited task that increases workload with team size is "progress checks." Meeting/confirmation tasks and individual inquiry responses were also high on the list.

Challenges in project progression include issues related to information sharing and communication, such as "lack of information during handover" and "needing to explain the same content to multiple people."

Team management load increases around the 20-30 person scale. The average number at which management starts to become difficult is 24.5 people.

【Survey Overview】

Survey Name: Survey on Project Management

Target Audience: Men and women aged 20-59 nationwide (Total 600 people)

Survey Method: Internet survey

Survey Period: February 20, 2026 (Fri) - February 24, 2026 (Tue)

Valid Responses: 600

Details of Survey Results

1. About 70% Feel Increased Workload with More People; Over 80% Among Leaders

When asked about the extent to which workload and progress management increased as team size grew, 66.3% of the total respondents answered "workload increased (greatly increased/somewhat increased)." When viewed by experience as a team leader, this figure was 47.2% for those without experience, compared to 81.5% for those with leadership experience, revealing that the burden is concentrated on the leadership layer responsible for management.

2. "Progress Checks" Top Factor for Increased Workload; Ambiguity in Information Sharing/Task Management Poses Challenges

Specific tasks that felt more burdensome due to increased team size were "progress checks (48.2%)," "meetings/checks to grasp the situation (45.8%)," and "responding to individual inquiries from members (44.8%)." Particularly among leaders, increases in workload were noticeable in areas such as "handling task omissions/oversights," "progress checks," and "performance evaluations."

It became clear that as team size increases, grasping individual member progress and performing confirmation/coordination tasks become more complex, leading to increased communication costs, especially for leaders.

3. "Information Sharing/Communication" and "Role Grasp" Become More Complex with Increased Team Size

Challenges in project progression included "lack of information during handover," "needing to explain the same content to multiple people," and "not being able to see the status of other members" ranking high. Furthermore, challenges such as an increase in coordination exchanges, increased effort for grasping and reporting overall project progress, and ambiguity in responsibilities/scope of work were also observed.

It was found that with increased team size, information sharing/communication and role grasp in task management become more complex, increasing the workload of confirmation and coordination tasks in project operations.

4. Team Management Load Tends to Increase Beyond 24-25 People

When asked about the number of people beyond which they felt the burden of managing and understanding the team would become significant, the average response was 24.5 people. While a tendency to feel management difficulty increased with team size, the average for teams of "50 or more people" settled at 33.8 people.

Nulab perceives that communication costs for progress checks, information sharing, and role grasp increase sharply around the 20-30 person scale. Especially in projects involving multiple members and multiple departments, the difficulty of maintaining a common understanding of "who is progressing what and to what extent" increases, making it easier for tasks related to checks, explanations, and coordination to grow. Therefore, for teams exceeding a certain size, establishing rules and utilizing tools to support information sharing and progress management are crucial elements for sustained project operations.

Release of Survey Report (White Paper)

Based on these survey results, we have released a white paper that organizes the background of management load generated by increased team size, common challenges in project operations, and their improvement methods.

In addition to the content introduced in this release, the report details:

- The time cost of "explanation costs" incurred by increased team size

- Changes in management structure likely to occur in the 20-30 person scale

- Factors contributing to the complexity of information sharing and task management

- Challenges related to tool adoption and cost increases

- Methods for information organization and progress management using AI

...along with survey data.

▼ Download the White Paper here

https://backlog.com/ja/document/the-30-employees-wall/

Request Regarding Use of These Survey Results

- The copyright of this release belongs to Nulab Inc.

- When quoting or reprinting the content of this release, you may use it for reporting or introductory purposes only, provided that you clearly state our company name (Nulab Inc.) as the source and, where possible, include a link to this release or the publication source.

- For modifications that alter the intent of the content, or for use intended for product or service sales promotion, please contact our public relations contact (pr@nulab.com) in advance.

About Backlog

Backlog is a project and task management tool that can be used by everyone who works in a team. Through features such as issue tracking, Gantt charts, and documents, it centrally manages the progress and role assignments of the entire team, supporting the efficiency of information sharing and task management.

https://backlog.com/ja/

About Nulab Inc.

Representative: Masanori Hashimoto

Headquarters: HCC BLD. 2-6-7F, 1-8-6 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture

Tokyo Office: B1F, +SHIFT SHIBADAIMON, 2-1-16 Shiba-daimon, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Corporate Site: https://nulab.com

Careers Site: https://careers.nulab.com/