What is Scaling Scrum?

Scaled Professional Scrum is based on unit of development called a Nexus. The Nexus consists of up to 10 Scrum teams, the number depending on how well the code and design are structured, the domains understood, and the people organized. The Nexus consists of practices, roles, events, and artifacts that bind and weave the work together to produce a whole.

We have found that when we get above ten Scrum teams that their ability to create usable products frays. The complexity and the dependencies that require resolution are overwhelming. The ability to create a “done” increment and not leave behind a pile of technical debt is daunting without shortcuts that reduce product viability.

Some high tech vendors claim to regularly employ 100 or so Scrum teams on products and product families. They are not scaled, however. Scaling carries with it the responsibility that all of the attributes of the smallest…