Are you communicating at the right scale?

It’s pretty easy to get two people aligned on something. It’s also pretty easy to get three people aligned on something. But as you add more and more people to a project, or a team, communication gets exponentially more complicated. This is known as Metcalfe’s Law.

This law in organisations explains why it’s so much easier to get stuff done in small groups – you only have to have so many lines of communication. You can also communicate in relatively unscaleable ways: if you only have to keep three other people informed, you can stand to have one-on-one conversations with each of them.

Communicating at scale generally means adding a structure and process to the way you communicate. This might look like regular meetings or rituals, structured documentation, or even designated communication roles.

If you can’t influence the size of the teams, then your job needs to be to notice when communication methods are breaking down and introduce methods that scale.

Are there any teams or projects you’re on where the communications aren’t at the right scale?