Communication channels are the number of person to person ways a team can communicate. The formula to calculate the number of communications channels is:

(n*(n-1))/2 where n is the number of people on the team.

For example, a three person team has three channels (A - B, A - C, and B - C). Adding a fourth person increases the communications channels to six.

Sometimes its hard to grasp the concept of how much more difficult communications becomes as more people get involved. We all know it happens, but just how difficult can things become?

One of the masterful equations that experienced project managers know is the communications channels equation. It goes like this, for each person added to a project team, the number of ways communications can flow between team members grows in an exponential fashion.

To figure the quantity of links between team members, we use the formula (n*(n-1))/2 where n represents the number of people on the team.

The graph shows how simply adding a 10th person to a team increases the communications channels from 36 to 45. That's 9 additional communications channels by adding the 10th person.

In fact, by adding the 50th person to a team adds 49 additional communications channels for a whopping total of 1,225 ways the communications can flow between team members on a team.

The Formula

The number of communications channels on a project team is determined by the following equation:

(n*(n-1))/2 where n is the number of people on the team.