Addressing Decision Latency to Achieve Agile Linear Scalability

Decision delays can be a major hindrance to the success of a project. According to a study by The Standish Group, teams that make quick decisions have a 58% success rate, compared to 18% for those that take longer to make decisions. This is especially true in large organizations where decision-making can be a slow and cumbersome process.

One way to solve this problem is by adapting linear scalability techniques used in Scrum@Scale, a methodology that scales the use of Scrum through multiple Scrum Teams in a Scrum of Scrum Configuration. Just like in Scrum, Each Scrum of Scrum cluster, or team of teams, is expected to be self-managing. This emphasizes agility at all levels, starting with the Scrum Teams, and amplifying it at the team of teams level. This allows for quick decision-making since each team is empowered to make local decisions while maintaining daily communication with its respective clusters. Scrum@Scale focuses on linear scalability and allows teams to move quickly and efficiently, without getting bogged down in bureaucracy and red tape. So what is linear scalability?

Linear scalability is the concept that as we add more team members to a project, we should see a proportional increase in productivity. For example, if we have two teams working on a project and they are X productive, adding two more teams should result in X * 2 productivity. This is in contrast to other scaling implementations where there is often a degradation in productivity as more teams are added.

Scrum@Scale, a methodology that emphasizes agility and quick decision-making, aims to achieve linear scalability by creating a fractal-like design. In Scrum, every component looks the same, and it follows a pattern of small teams. This structure allows for efficient communication and decision-making, ensuring that as more teams are added, the proportional benefit is seen.

By streamlining your composition, your organization can improve its decision-making process, making it faster and more efficient, and ultimately increasing the chances of project success.