Bus factor: how to find it and raise it
A team's bus factor is how many people would have to leave before work stops. When it is one, one person holds something nobody else on the team can do. This is also called key person risk. It might be a system, a customer or a process. It works well until that person is ill, on leave or gone. It is also hard on that person.
Updated
How to spot one
Ask yourself these questions about each person on your team.
- If they were away for two weeks, what would stop?
- Do others ask them before they make a decision in their area?
- Are they the only one who reviews or approves a certain kind of work?
- Do they answer most of the team's questions?
- Has anyone else touched their area in the last month?
Why it is a risk
The team stops when they do. A plain absence becomes a crisis.
The person carries it too. They cannot fully switch off, and they cannot move on to something new. They are often the busiest person on the team.
How to spread it out
- Pick one thing they alone do, and name a second person for it.
- Have them pair with that person on the next piece of work.
- Ask them to write down the steps while they do it, not afterwards.
- Let the second person do it once, with the first watching.
- Review who can do what, each quarter.
Do it with them, not around them
Some people fear that sharing what they know makes them less valuable. Say plainly that it does the opposite. It frees them for harder work and lets them take time off.
Thank them for the work they have carried. It was likely unseen.
The signals behind this guide
- How to spot a single point of failure on a team
Only one person knows an important part of the code. If they are away, nobody else can change it.
- How to tell if a team member is overloaded
Someone is working too much.
- How to spot good work nobody is talking about
Someone is doing more than usual, or helping others a lot.
More guides
- Why employees leave and the signs before they go
Why employees leave, the changes a manager can see before someone resigns, and how to start the conversation while there is still time.
- Quiet quitting: the signs, and what to do
What quiet quitting looks like on a team, how it differs from a quiet week, and how a manager can respond without blame.
- One on one questions to ask your team
One on one questions for every part of a 1:1 meeting: workload, the team, growth and you as their manager. Plus what to talk about, and a simple agenda.
- Employee recognition: how to thank good work
Employee recognition that costs nothing: how to notice the work that deserves thanks, how to say it so it lands, and ideas to make sure nobody is missed.
- Signs of burnout at work a manager can see
The signs of burnout at work a manager can see early are about the work: late nights, no breaks, no say. What to look for, what to say, what to change.
- Signs an employee is secretly struggling
The work changes that show someone may be struggling, why they hide it, and how a manager can ask in a way that gets an honest answer.
- How to tell if an employee is disengaged
What disengaged looks like day to day, how it differs from a bad week, and how a manager can find the reason and respond without blame.
- How to support an employee returning from leave
What to do before, on and after someone's first day back from leave, so they can catch up without being rushed or left out.
- Overwhelmed at work: how a manager can help
What to do when someone has too much on: how to find out what they are carrying, what to take away, and how to check that it worked.
- Employee onboarding: a 90-day plan
A practical plan for a new hire's first days and first 90 days: what to prepare, who they should meet, and what to check on each week.
- Performance review examples for managers
Performance review examples you can adapt for results, teamwork, growth and problems, a short template, and how to write a fair review from facts.
- Employee retention: how to keep your best people
What employee retention depends on, why good people leave, and the habits that keep them: fair workload, real growth and a manager who notices.
- Team health check: how to run one
How to run a team health check in half an hour: what to ask, how to get honest answers, what to do with the result, and what to watch between checks.
- First time manager: what to do first
A plan for a first time manager: meet each person, learn how the team works, start one on ones, and avoid the mistakes most new managers make.
Ready when you are
A quieter morning, starting in your inbox.
Connect the tools your team already uses. Sonarwork reads the past of the ones that keep one, so there is something to look at on day one. Then every weekday morning, the brief lands.
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