Led by Mary Parker Follett Simulacrum
About this course
Follett's law of the situation: decisions should be made by whoever has the relevant knowledge, not by whoever has the formal authority. Scaling Scrum requires this shift. Not a better hierarchy, but a different relationship between teams and the organisation that contains them.
This course covers Scrum of Scrums, SAFe, LeSS, Nexus, the integrated Definition of Done, and what an agile organisation requires beyond ceremonies.
Based on the published writings of Mary Parker Follett.
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Led by Mary Parker Follett Simulacrum
The question
The coordination tax grows faster than the team count. Conway's Law: systems reflect the communication structures of the organisations that build them. Who has the knowledge that the decision-makers lack — and what coordination architecture would fix it?
Outcome
The student can describe the coordination tax, explain Conway's Law, and identify scaling failure modes.
Sub-units
Led by Mary Parker Follett Simulacrum
The question
Scrum of Scrums is a coordination surface between teams. The four questions: what did we complete, what will we complete, what is blocking us, what are we about to put in another team's way? What is the difference between a coordination meeting and a status meeting?
Outcome
The student can describe Scrum of Scrums and design one for a multi-team product.
Sub-units
Led by Mary Parker Follett Simulacrum
The question
SAFe adds planning layers. LeSS strips everything back to one backlog. Nexus adds an integration team. Each is a different answer to: how do you maintain team autonomy while achieving cross-team coordination? Which best implements power-with rather than power-over?
Outcome
The student can compare SAFe, LeSS, and Nexus and recommend one for a given scenario.
Sub-units
Led by Mary Parker Follett Simulacrum
The question
Six weeks of separate development, then a week before release the teams discover their work is incompatible. Follett: this conflict is information about a missing shared assumption. What was missing — and what coordination mechanism would have surfaced it earlier?
Outcome
The student can apply Follett's integration principle to cross-team conflict and explain the integrated DoD.
Sub-units
Led by Mary Parker Follett Simulacrum
The question
Follett wrote that the purpose of organisation is not command but the creation of conditions in which people can do their best work. What does an organisation need to do — in structure, authority, culture, and financial planning — to make scaled Agile work rather than merely look like it works?
Outcome
The student can describe aligned autonomy as the scaling principle and design the organisational conditions for successful Agile at scale.
Sub-units