Aha Autonomy

Scaling is not simply about creating more of the same.

 

As organizations grow, coordinating an increasing number of teams can introduce additional dependencies and coordination mechanisms that constrain autonomy. This paper proposes an alternative organizational systems design inspired by Brooks' Robotics Subsumption Architecture.

 

Rather than prescribing a fixed organizational structure, the approach uses an organizing context to guide the composition of autonomous teams and capabilities into progressively broader organizational sub-units through subsumption. The resulting architecture aims to minimize dependencies requiring coordination across organizational boundaries while preserving local autonomy. An Organizational Sensing System (OSS) and Surfers provide adaptive mechanisms for responding to changing conditions and addressing interdependencies.

 

A fictional eAuction example illustrates how customer segments can serve as the organizing context, enabling the organization to scale and readily incorporate new business opportunities without major restructuring of existing sub-units. The proposed approach reframes Agile scaling as the design of adaptive organizational systems that preserve autonomy and organizational coherence.