Q of the Week: What does Scrum@Scale mean by linear scalability?

Linear scalability is the ability to add Scrum teams and receive a corresponding increase in value delivery. In other words, the more teams you add, the more valuable working product you should produce. This may not always be the case unless you are intentional about it.

Brooks’ law states that adding more people to a project makes the project take longer, not shorter. A similar negative pattern may occur as we add more teams in product development. Adding more teams may slow down value delivery instead of increasing it. Scrum@Scale addresses this challenge by creating the minimal viable bureaucracy that enables small team networks, known as a Scrum of Scrums, to remain self-organizing and collaborate effectively, thereby achieving linear scalability.