I have encountered the concept of Barrels Vs Ammunition from former PayPal COO & venture capitalist Keith Rabois a few times recently and have been giving it more thought as I have been building a larger team. The concept is, in Keith’s words:
“When you do just hire a lot of people, you expect that when you add more people your horsepower or your velocity of shipping things is going to increase. Turns out it doesn’t work that way. When you hire more engineers you don’t get that much more done.”
“The reason why is because most great people actually are ammunition. But what you need in your company are barrels. And you can only shoot through the unique barrels that you have. That’s how the velocity of your company improves is having barrels. Then you stock them with ammunition, then you can do a lot.”
It explores building the best teams and sifting the true gems out of the dirt. It is 100% true that a business can only make meaningful progress in areas (marketing, engineering, support) with a truly relentless, and most importantly, proactive individual driving meaningful change. With this in mind, I was listening to the The Rest is History podcast and got sent down a rabbit hole of civil war era cannons and the composition of the team of trained soldiers it took to operate one.
What a team for 1 cannon! It was diving into the responsibilities of that I found the parallels to running any team. Top tier talent can conquer what is in front of them, but the manager aims them to the right item on the roadmap and makes sure nothing gets in their way. You have to be crystal clear in your direction and execution. Take full responsibility for delivering or not delivering victory. It helped me develop the theory that in a world of “Barrels” and “Ammunition”, be a “Chief of the Piece”.
The “Chief of the Piece” had many roles:
“The sergeant assigned all duty positions in his platoon, except for the corporals, and he insured that the cannoneers and drivers were not only properly trained, by that they could switch roles on an individual basis if necessary.”
- Make sure you have the right people in the right positions. Grouping all barrels together and teaming all of the ammunition together is not going to be a successful strategy.
- Cross assign features so developers get comfortable in different areas of your code base.
“Insure that the gunner selected the correct target and used the proper range and projectile”
- Keep laser focus on your deliverable value. Get the team to where all they need to do is reload and fire. Did the wind change? Adjust your aim.
“Check that the chief of caisson was prepared to bring forward ammunition as necessary”
- Always make sure your barrels have the ammunition and resources they need to deliver high quality products. Allowing your team to handle non-related tasks ruins productivity.
“On the march he rode beside the left lead horse and performed duty as guide for his platoon”
- Protect your team; their time and wellbeing. Prepare for the unknown issues that disturb them from their work. Love handling the weird and obscure issues that take people out of their maker time.
“See that downed horses were unharnessed and replaced as the situation dictated”
- Give your team the new recruits that push them and make each other better. Not every hire is going to make the team better. It’s crucial to make changes quickly and transparently. The team needs to know where they stand at all times. An employee who feels uncertain about their role or status may struggle to produce their best work.
We may not be called to fight on the battlefield, but the team dynamics of a civil war era cannon crew can teach us valuable lessons about leadership. Just as the Chief of the Piece played a crucial role in ensuring the success of their platoon, modern team leaders must be proactive, adaptable, and focused on empowering their team members. By assigning the right people to the right positions, providing necessary resources, and protecting the team from distractions, a strong leader can help their team achieve victory in the form of delivering high-quality products.
Numbers & Nurture 
Leave a comment