The most effective atomic teams tend to have some commonalities. 

• Stay lean. Up to a certain point, adding more team members with the required skills is wonderful. However, once a team goes beyond 8 or 9 individuals, the coordination costs start to decrease efficiency. If a team needs to be larger, consider breaking it into two smaller teams. 
• Single, sequential goals. It is much for an atomic team to execute on one goal, then move to a second once the first is completed – instead of trying to execute on two goals at once. 
• Minimal distractions. Great atomic teams have very (very) few distractions, and (often) no meetings. As much time as possible (>90% of working hours) should be spent on either building products or talking to customers. 
• Strong interpersonal connections. Depth of interpersonal relationships matters within atomic teams. Great atomic teams spend 8-10 hours per day working together, so it’s worth getting to know each other! 
• Long-lasting. Atomic teams often will stick together through multiple projects, and the unit familiarity that develops leads to better and faster outputs. Likewise, teams that can focus on a given problem space for a long time have less whiplash and stronger instincts.