For over two decades, the idea of “Scaling Agile” has dominated the landscape of organizational transformation. Companies worldwide, drawn by the promise of greater predictability, higher customer and employee satisfaction, and quicker turnaround times, have shifted from fragmented project teams to stable, cross-functional teams using scaled Agile frameworks such as SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum), and others.
The objective of these transformations has been to streamline coordination, manage dependencies, create team stability, and ultimately achieve business agility. At Highberg, we’ve seen countless organizations embark on this journey with the expectation that frameworks, ceremonies, and lean portfolio management practices will be the key to unlocking the “holy grail” of agility. Yet, many organizations still struggle with implementing scaled Agile frameworks, finding that despite their efforts, the agility they hoped for remains elusive.
Scaling Is Just the Beginning, Not the End Goal
Many organizations assume that a scaled agile framework, once in place, will lead to sustained business agility. However, the reality is often more complex. Once Agile practices are scaled, organizations frequently discover that the newly established structures don’t deliver the expected speed, particularly in fast-paced industries. This is because scaling introduces layers of governance, dependencies, and coordination mechanisms that can hinder fast decision-making and stifle innovation.
This is where the concept of unscaling comes into play. It’s not about undoing the progress of scaling but refining it. Scaling should not be viewed as the final destination—it is a step in the journey toward true agility. Once a stable scaled Agile system is in place, unscaling is about simplifying—reducing unnecessary governance, streamlining coordination, and cutting dependencies that prevent teams from being fully autonomous and responsive.
Why Scaling Happens
To understand why unscaling is necessary, it’s crucial to first grasp why organizations turn to scaling in the first place. Agile teams, particularly those using frameworks like Scrum, excel when they operate autonomously, independently refining, planning, executing, and iterating with regular stakeholder engagement.
However, as organizations get bigger and product complexity grows, effective cross-team coordination becomes a pressing need. Scaled frameworks like SAFe and LeSS address this by introducing governance mechanisms such as PI Planning, Overall Product Backlog Refinement, and roles like Release Train Engineers (RTEs) or Area Product Owners—to manage dependencies and maintain alignment across teams.
This governance can be useful initially, but many organizations accept it without questioning why it’s needed. Dependencies often stem from deeper issues like technical debt, legacy systems, tightly linked teams, or overly complex organizational structures, factors that Agile frameworks aim to resolve. By focusing only on governance and not on the underlying causes, organizations risk reinforcing the very complexities they set out to minimize, ultimately limiting the effectiveness of Agile.
Often, organizations cite “better alignment with business priorities” as a key driver for scaling practices. However, implementing scaled Agile frameworks alone does not guarantee this alignment. In fact, the added governance can sometimes create a false sense of alignment, distancing teams from real business priorities. For companies in fast-moving, competitive markets, relying solely on scaled Agile frameworks can constrain the speed and innovation needed to stay ahead.
Why Unscaling is Important
At the heart of the unscaling concept is the realization that managing dependencies is not enough, organizations must strive to eliminate them. This requires a deep dive into both technical and organizational landscapes to uncover where complexity can be reduced, allowing teams to regain autonomy:
- Organizational Dependencies: In many scaled Agile environments, organizations become overly dependent on coordination mechanisms. While necessary during the early stages, these can become bottlenecks as organizations mature. Instead of constantly managing dependencies with additional roles and ceremonies, it’s crucial to ask if those dependencies can be removed altogether. This might mean reorganizing teams to take full ownership of products or services, empowering them to make decisions without constant cross-team alignment
- Technical Complexity: Organizational structures aren’t the only things that can become overly complicated; technical landscapes can, too. Many companies are tangled in legacy systems and complex architectures that require careful coordination. Simplifying these systems—through strategies like continuous integration, microservices, or more modular architectures—allows teams to operate independently
- Flattening Structures: Unscaling often involves reducing unnecessary layers in the organizational hierarchy. Scaled Agile frameworks introduce roles like Release Train Engineers and Solution Train Engineers to oversee work across teams. As teams mature, they can take on more autonomy, allowing these layers to be removed. We’ve seen clients who empower their teams to control their roadmaps and release schedules, significantly speeding up decision-making and reducing oversight
- Measure what matters: In many scaled Agile frameworks, success is still measured by output: How many features were delivered? How many story points were completed? These metrics, while useful, don’t capture the full value created. True agility requires shifting towards outcome-based metrics, emphasizing the value delivered to customers rather than the volume of work completed. This shift is crucial for unscaling, aligning efforts more closely with business outcomes rather than arbitrary metrics. We’ve found that while many companies attempt to measure business value, their metrics are often vague, leading to a gap between the intended outcomes and what’s actually measured
Conclusion: Simplicity for Lasting Agility
Scaling is an essential first step in achieving business agility, but it’s not the final goal. While scaled Agile frameworks can help manage complexity, they often come with a price such as new layers of governance that can stifle the very flexibility and speed Agile was meant to deliver. To achieve true agility, organizations must go beyond scaling and embrace unscaling. This means simplifying structures, reducing dependencies, and empowering teams to operate autonomously without unnecessary overhead.
Unscaling is about returning to Agile’s core principles: simplicity, autonomy, and rapid value delivery. It’s about cutting through the complexity and focusing on what truly matters—delivering value to customers, responding quickly to change, and staying ahead in a competitive market. By resisting the temptation to overcomplicate, organizations can remain agile, innovative, and adaptable in a world that demands constant evolution.
The next step is yours. Challenge the assumptions that scaling is the end goal, and explore how unscaling can unlock the true potential of your Agile journey. Audit your processes, question your dependencies, and experiment with removing unnecessary complexity. The path to genuine agility starts with one simple question: What can you strip away to make your organization faster, leaner, and more innovative.
As Leonardo da Vinci wisely said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Let’s move beyond frameworks and get back to what Agile was always meant to be—a mindset of continuous improvement, simplicity, and delivering value.
