How do we effectively scale Scrum for multiple teams working on a single product?

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Scaling should only be done when absolutely necessary. If you have four teams, start with a "Scrum of Scrums" to coordinate dependencies. If that isn't enough, I highly recommend the Nexus framework for its simplicity—it’s basically just Scrum with an added Integration Team. For highly regulated or massive enterprises, SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) is the standard, but it can be very heavy and feel like "Waterfall in disguise" if not implemented carefully. The goal should be to minimize dependencies through better architecture (like microservices) rather than just managing them with more meetings.

   Answered 2025-01-07 by Deborah Mitchell

Nexus is great for integration, but how are you handling shared resources like DevOps or UX designers who support all four teams? Are they part of a centralized service team, or are you trying to embed them into each individual squad to avoid the "bottleneck" effect?

   Answered 2025-01-09 by Ryan Miller

• Ryan, we moved to a "Chapter" model similar to Spotify. Our UX folks are embedded in the squads for daily work, but they meet weekly as a Chapter to ensure design consistency across the product. It’s helped us avoid the bottleneck while keeping our brand identity unified across different feature sets.

     Commented 2025-01-11 by Gregory Vance

Don't forget the importance of a "Shared Product Backlog." Even with multiple teams, you need one single source of truth to ensure everyone is pulling in the same strategic direction.

   Answered 2025-01-13 by Mark Stevens

• Absolutely, Mark. We learned that the hard way when two teams built the same login component. One backlog and a joint refinement session for the 'Epics' is a must for any scaling effort.

     Commented 2025-01-15 by Deborah Mitchell