What Worked at 5 Teams Breaks at 20. We'll Fix It.
When rapid growth creates delivery chaos instead of capability.
You scaled revenue. You scaled headcount. But you didn't scale your delivery system. Now you have 15-20 teams, multiplying dependencies, communication breakdown, and slower delivery than when you were smaller.
The agility that got you here is suffocating under the weight of scale. And your growth is stalling because you can't deliver fast enough to capture the market opportunity.
What Unscalable Delivery Really Costs You
More teams = slower delivery (shouldn't work that way)
Dependencies blocking everything - teams constantly waiting
Communication breaking down across teams
Priorities unclear when you have 20 teams competing for attention
Lost the nimbleness you had as a smaller company
Best talent leaving: "It's not fun here anymore"
Competitors (who haven't scaled yet) shipping faster than you
The symptoms you're seeing:
Industry data shows 50% productivity loss during rapid scaling if delivery systems don't evolve.
That means half your new headcount investment is wasted on coordination overhead.
The financial impact:
You're running in quicksand. More people, more meetings, less output.
The things that made you successful - speed, collaboration, autonomy - are dying.
And you're terrified you'll lose your competitive edge just when you need it most.
What it feels like:
Why Delivery Systems Break During Scale
It's not about hiring bad people. It's about outgrowing your system:
01.
Informal Coordination Stops Working:
At 5 teams, everyone knew everything. At 20 teams, nobody knows anything. You need structure you didn't need before.
02.
Technical Architecture Doesn't Scale:
Your monolith worked fine with 1 team. With 10 teams, it's a bottleneck. Every deploy is a risk.
03.
Product Boundaries Aren't Clear:
Teams stepping on each other because it's unclear who owns what.
04.
Leadership Can't Scale Themselves:
What worked when you could attend every planning meeting doesn't work when there are 20 planning meetings.
05.
No Federated Decision-Making:
Everything still escalates to the top. You're the bottleneck.
⤓
The real issue:
You're trying to run 20 teams the same way you ran 5. That's like using a bicycle to transport 100 people - wrong vehicle.
What we do:
-
Map current delivery system: How do teams actually coordinate?
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Identify scale bottlenecks: What breaks first when you add teams?
-
Assess technical architecture: Does it support independent team delivery?
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Interview teams and leadership: What's frustrating? What's missing?
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Benchmark against scale-up best practices
ADAPT
Diagnose Scale Blockers
What you get:
Clear diagnosis of why scale is creating chaos, not capability.
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Define clear product boundaries and team ownership
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Implement lightweight coordination (not heavyweight governance)
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Establish federated decision-making (push decisions down)
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Create visibility across teams without creating meeting hell
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Design technical architecture for team independence
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Set up portfolio management that works at scale
What we do:
ALIGN
Redesign for Scale
What you get:
Structure that enables, not suffocates. Teams can move independently while staying aligned.
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Scale what's working, fix what's not
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Build leadership capability to lead at scale
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Create self-sustaining coordination rituals
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Establish metrics that show system health
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Prepare for next phase of growth
What we do:
ACCELERATE
Embed Scaling Capability
What you get:
Delivery system that can scale to 30, 40, 50 teams without breaking again.
Our Approach to Scaling Delivery Systems
We don't just add process. We redesign for scale - preserving agility while adding necessary structure.
Outcomes, Not Just Outputs
Short-term
6-12 Weeks
Delivery speed restored (or improved from pre-scale baseline)
Teams operating autonomously within clear boundaries
Scalable architecture supporting independent team delivery
Leadership operating at strategic level, not tactical
Culture preserved: It's fun to work here again
Specific
Deliverables
Clear team boundaries and ownership
Reduced dependency gridlock (30-50% fewer blockers)
Improved coordination without more meetings
Visible improvement in delivery speed
Leadership breathing room (less escalations)
Long-term
6-12 Months
Team topology and ownership model
Scaled coordination framework
Portfolio management system
Technical architecture guidance
Leadership capability building
How We've Scaled Delivery Systems Before
UK Scale-Up:
8 Teams to 25 Teams Without Losing Speed
The Challenge
Hypergrowth scale-up. Hired aggressively. Went from 8 teams to 25 in 18 months. Delivery ground to a halt. Dependencies everywhere. Leadership overwhelmed.
Our Soultion
Redesigned team structure around product boundaries. Implemented Scrum@Scale. Created lightweight portfolio management. Broke technical monolith into services.
The Results
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Delivery speed: Restored to pre-scale levels within 3 months
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Dependencies: Reduced by 60%
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Team autonomy: 80% of decisions made at team level
-
Leadership capacity: Freed up 50% of exec time from tactical firefighting
"Agilicist gave us the structure to scale without losing our agility."
- CEO & Founder, Scale-Up
Is This Right For You?
You're a Good Fit If:
You've grown from 5-10 teams to 15+ in last 12-24 months
Delivery is slower now than when you were smaller
Dependencies are multiplying faster than
teams
Communication and coordination breaking
down
Leadership spending all time on coordination, not strategy
You want to preserve agility while adding necessary structure
You're still under 8-10 teams (probably don't need this yet)
You're willing to accept bureaucracy in exchange for scale (we won't do that)
Your technical architecture is fundamentally unsalvageable (that's a different problem)
This Isn't Right If:
Common Questions About Scaling Delivery Systems
Maybe, maybe not. SAFe works for some contexts. Scrum@Scale for others. Sometimes a custom approach is better. We diagnose first, prescribe second.
By designing for autonomy within alignment. Structure doesn't have to mean bureaucracy. We preserve what made you successful while adding what you need.
Usually yes - team boundaries need to align with product boundaries. But we do it thoughtfully, preserving high-performing teams where possible.
Initial improvements in 6-8 weeks. Full stabilisation at new scale typically 4-6 months.
Perfect. We design systems that scale to your target state (e.g., 40 teams), not just current state (e.g., 20 teams).
Let's Diagnose Your Scale Challenges
Here's what happens when you book a scale assessment:
We've helped 10+ scale-ups navigate hypergrowth without breaking delivery.
Let's see how we can help you.
Scaled delivery for companies growing 100%+ year-over-year.
1.
15-Minute Call: Understand your growth trajectory and current pain
2.
Identify Scale Bottlenecks: What's breaking first as you scale?
3.
Realistic Roadmap: How to scale without losing speed or culture
4.
Team Topology Guidance: How to structure teams for your context