Is the pace of a project determined by the slowest participant? My friend was on a canoe trip with a group of families and on a canoe trip it is important that they all stay together. They moved very slowly because some of the paddlers were not a strong as others.
My friend found it very frustrating because he likes a hard paddle and loves a good pace. The only solution was to put a strong paddler with a weaker one to improve the pace.
He also realized that depending on the objectives of the trip he needs to pick his fellow paddlers. On a family trip, he must realize the pace will not be to his liking. For a "real" canoe trip, he will select more capable paddlers.
I think these insights also apply to our projects. If you have slower paddlers on the team, putting them with stronger paddlers will increase the speed of the project.