Yes, those are awesome benefits, they are easier to get a hold of, they can take turns, they have more knowledge, and they can have fun sharing the experience. Increased safety and watching out for each other are also very valuable even in an office work environment.

Thanks for sharing your insight, Rick. I knew ‘having a buddy’ wasn’t a new concept, but it might be in an office because we think it’s wasting people’s time or something. I think it would actually cause us to be more productive.

1. There are two people that a superior can go to for an update, reducing induced stress for everyone.

2. With an extra body to handle non-mission critical tasks from time to time (see talking to boss, above), when one of the team is in the mythical state of flow, she doesn’t have to be interrupted.

3. If the team involves people from slightly different networks, the available resources and knowledge from the network just went way, way up. This is also true with related but different skill sets. Working at ThoughtStorm with my partner, an ex-Army guy like me but with a stronger finance background, gives us two complementary ways to attack a problem but with a similar mindset about the overall goal.

4. Even for antisocial people, working with someone else, on a shared goal, is inherently more exciting, fun, and probably even fulfilling.

One reason we generally make soldiers do everything in twos, absolutely in the field and often in regular work environments, is that your Ranger buddy is both a guardian angel, to watch out or get help if something bad happens, and a source of advice to give you feedback on plans and suggest different approaches.

Rick