# Politics happens whenever there are three or more people with different goals If there are two people with different goals there is just conflict - no politics. If everybody has the exact same goals then there is no politics - just alignment. (Note that this is incredibly rare) Because [[Goal aligning happens on specific scopes and timescales]], the same group of people can have more or less politics depending on the scope and timescale in question. This suggests that [[Defining clear timescales and scopes for collaborations is a tool to minimize politics]] <!-- #evergreen --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Politics+happens+whenever+there+are+three+or+more+people+with+different+goals) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Politics+happens+whenever+there+are+three+or+more+people+with+different+goals)