dreams · Feb 7, 2017
Dream Chasers: Doing more, while staying small in team.
Last updated: July 22, 2026
Last updated: July 22, 2026
Ray, a senior software engineer at Aerovironment, faced an unusual problem: his team shrank from 12 people to four or five, and he needed to get more done with fewer hands. He chose Quire because it kept a small team organized without the overhead of heavier tools, proof that doing more while staying small is a workflow question, not a headcount one.
Doing more with fewer people is the quiet story of modern teams. McKinsey found that about 30% of the activities in most jobs could be automated or streamlined, which is how a team that shrank from twelve people to four keeps its output up.
For many of us, the biggest challenge is to stay productive and organized as our team grows bigger and bigger. But it is the opposite for Ray.
Ray works as a senior software engineer in Aerovironment, Inc., a technology company located in California, United States. For him, the question is how to get more things done in a team that shrank from 12 to 4-5 people.
“I found myself having to do many things simultaneously. But Quire has helped me prioritize with my work so I do not feel stressed.”
-- Ray
Senior Software Engineer of Aerovironment, Inc.
I spoke to Ray about how Quire has helped him stay away from chaos and pressure. Here is the interview in a nutshell.
How did you find out about Quire?
Years ago, I used to use a PIM software called ECCO Pro. The thing I liked about it was that it allowed you to set up hierarchical to-do lists which is exactly how I think about my work. It seemed no other software did that at the time.
Unfortunately, the company went out of business. So I did a search to find a “hierarchical todo list” software, and Quire was what I found.
Was there any problem or challenge before you started using Quire?
Yes, there definitely was.
As our team got smaller, I found myself having to manage many projects at the same time, and trying to remember where I was in each one.
It was very difficult to stay organized, when your to-do list kept growing.
Mind telling us how has Quire helped you then?
I have been using Quire now for about 2 months now. It has helped me a great deal.
For example, it has helped me to prioritize my work and remember where I am in projects that I have to move away from and come back to. It has also helped me discipline myself to write things down, so I don’t feel stressed trying to keep everything in my head.
I use the tree structure to indicate dependencies - subtasks must be completed before their parent task is done.
Lastly, anything you would like to say to the Quire team?
Recently, I have begun adding tasks for my team members, inviting them to join Quire and asking them to check off tasks after completing them.
I believe eventually, Quire might just become the perfect team coordination tool - what it is especially designed to be - for us.
Ray's answer was not to work everyone harder; it was to make the work itself lighter to manage. A clear, shared task structure means a four-person team wastes no time on "who is doing what," and the overhead that usually eats small teams, status meetings, dropped handoffs, duplicated effort, mostly disappears. Fewer people really can do more, but only when the coordination cost drops close to zero.
How does Ray's small team use Quire?
Fewer people, same output, in one view.
More from our Dream Chasers series: Dream Chasers: Collaborating Around the Globe and Turning task managers into a foodie’s best friend!.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Ray and how does he use Quire?
Ray is a senior software engineer at Aerovironment in California who uses Quire's hierarchical to-do lists to track where he left off across projects.
Why does a smaller team find Quire helpful?
His team shrank from 12 to 4-5 people, so he now manages many projects at once. Quire helps him track each one instead of holding it all in his head.
Why did Ray choose Quire over other software?
His old tool, ECCO Pro, shut down, so he searched for hierarchical to-do list software and found Quire.
How does Ray use Quire's tree structure?
He uses it to show dependencies, where subtasks must be finished before the parent task counts as done.
