Why does the human core stay stable?#
Because shared understanding and trust take time to build, and machines do not hold them for you. A team that reforms every quarter spends its first weeks rebuilding an understanding a stable core would already have, including memory of the shortcuts that looked attractive and failed. The agents can change freely; the people cannot, without cost.
How is it sized?#
By judgment load. Count the consequential decisions the mission will generate and how much understanding each needs; the number of tasks matters far less. That count decides whether a mission team needs two people or six. Like a stream-aligned team in Team Topologies, it owns a flow of value end to end and treats cognitive load as a limit.
Specialists join for particular decisions through a specialist judgment service instead of sitting idle in every team.