It doesn&#x27;t have to be 1:1 personal redundancy -- it&#x27;s more like, several of the 20 devs being able to assume lightweight PM&#x2F;DS&#x2F;DBA responsibilities for a few weeks while that person is away (I&#x27;ve personally as a dev covered for pretty much that set of roles -- and always had a renewed appreciation for the skills of that person when they returned). In other words, don&#x27;t silo your roles too rigidly, especially when you&#x27;re small and can&#x27;t afford 1:1 redundancies.<p>And if your company absolutely 100% relies on having a full-blown PM&#x2F;DS&#x2F;DBA around at all times, well, then you DO need (at least) two of each, otherwise your company tanks if your one DBA gets sick or leaves for a company where they don&#x27;t have to suffer the permanent stress of being a SPOF.<p>And if you CAN survive for a few weeks while you hire and train a new DBA in that situation, then you can survive for a few weeks while your DBA is on holiday.