Scale refers to the different levels of size, complexity, and coordination at which groups operate, each requiring distinct approaches to governance, decision-making, and collaboration to function effectively while maintaining purpose alignment.
Scale represents a fundamental dimension of organizational design that shapes how participants coordinate, make decisions, and allocate resources. Different scales of operation create qualitatively different dynamics and challenges, requiring appropriate governance structures and coordination mechanisms to maintain both effectiveness and alignment. Understanding these scale-based dynamics helps organizations design systems that can harness collective intelligence while avoiding the pitfalls of either fragmentation or overcentralization.
In decentralized contexts, scale takes on particular importance as organizations seek to distribute agency and decision-making while maintaining coherent action. Rather than imposing uniform governance approaches across all scales, effective decentralized organizations recognize the distinct needs and capacities of different scales, creating nested systems that enable appropriate autonomy and coordination at each level while maintaining overall purpose alignment through shared agreements and transparent communication.
Uses of “Scale”
Scale in the DAO Primitives Framework
The framework identifies three fundamental scales at which groups operate, each with distinct coordination patterns and governance requirements:
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Collaboration Scale: Small teams of 3-8 people working closely together through high-bandwidth, synchronous interaction. At this scale, coordination happens primarily through direct relationships, shared context, and continuous communication. As the framework explains, these intimate groups enable “ongoing conversation, presence, trust and commitment” that create the foundation for effective collaboration without requiring formal governance structures.
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Coordination Scale: Networks of 10-150 people coordinating across functions and teams. This scale corresponds roughly to Dunbar’s Number - the cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. At coordination scale, groups require more structured approaches including documented agreements, transparent progress tracking, and clear interfaces between teams. As described in Building DAOs as scalable networks, this often involves “sociocratic structures” where autonomous cells coordinate through defined protocols and regular touchpoints.
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Constituency Scale: Large communities of hundreds to thousands of stakeholders participating through representative mechanisms and broad participation frameworks. At this scale, direct coordination between all participants becomes impractical, requiring governance systems that can aggregate diverse perspectives into coherent decisions while maintaining legitimacy and inclusion. These systems often employ mechanisms like conviction voting, delegation, and optimistic governance to balance participation with efficiency.
Scale and Scaling Dynamics
In Scale and the levers that provide DAOs their power, two fundamental scaling dynamics are identified that shape how systems grow and evolve:
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Sub-linear scaling through fractal hierarchies creates increasing efficiency as networks grow. This pattern, observed in biological systems and infrastructure networks, enables what the article calls “Dynamic One” - the capacity to achieve economies of scale through structured organization. Traditional companies excel at this form of scaling through management hierarchies and standardized processes.
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Super-linear scaling through social connectivity generates increasing innovation and creativity as networks expand. This “Dynamic Two” pattern, seen in cities and other social systems, enables the emergence of new ideas, approaches, and solutions through diverse interaction. Unlike traditional organizations that often sacrifice innovation for efficiency as they grow, networks that harness this dynamic can become more creative and adaptive at scale.
The article argues that DAOs, when properly designed, can uniquely combine both dynamics - achieving efficiency through structured organization while maintaining the creative capacity of social networks. This dual capability allows DAOs to “function as network economies, not business models,” creating systems that can evolve and adapt while also delivering consistent results.
Related Concepts
- Groups: The social units that operate at different scales within organizations
- Coordination: The mechanisms that enable alignment across different scales
- Governance: The systems for decision-making appropriate to each scale
- Networks: The interconnected relationships that span across scales
- Cells: Autonomous teams that form the building blocks of multi-scale networks
- Agreements: The shared understandings that connect activities across scales
References and Resources
- Scale and the levers that provide DAOs their power: Explores fundamental scaling dynamics in organizational systems
- Building DAOs as scalable networks: Proposes multi-scale governance approaches for decentralized organizations
- framework: Provides detailed analysis of different group scales and their characteristics