One of the key challenges with any delivery is engagement between the various teams that are involved. This is rarely a one-to-one situation as there are typically many dependencies involved when you look at delivery within an organisation. There are three models that I see in use and these are:

- Single point of engagement - this is typified by SCRUM where the Product Owner is responsible for setting the priorities and for business engagement. We may see wider engagement but the Product Owner controls what the team does while the team owns the means

- Multiple point of engagement - I see this where the concept of the boundary spanner has been explored which is part of the Teams of Teams approach. Here a third individual facilities engagement and you will have multiple points of engagement but they may not be aligned

- Wide engagement - this is something that I really see and is related to Centola's concept of wide bridges which are necessary for idea propagation.

This is a model that is also supported by Kaufmann's Patch Theory which I find useful as it supports self-optimisation of the system. I find that the SCRUM model and variations don't scale very well and lead to a lack of engagement across the teams. If the teams have realised this they will have moved to support or explore the boundary spanner model as this leads to better collaboration but as noted alignment may be a challenge. It is great from getting things done but may not necessarily the right things. For this to occur I find you need to ensure there are wide bridges between the teams.

Notes:

How Behavior Spreads, The Science of Complex Contagions, Damon Centola At Home in the Universe, Stuart Kauffman