Multi-team Systems (MTS)

• An MTS is when teams are scaled, also known as team of teams, or scrum of scrums
• An MTS is structurally formed when two or more teams are working toward a common goal
• A team within an MTS, we will call them component teams, has its own set of team goals
  • These are called proximal goals
  • Component teams that are working toward shared multiteam goals are working toward the MTS goal, also called the component team’s distal goal
• MTSs are structured around component teams having similar distal goals
  • Component teams can have multiple, and different, distal goals from other component teams within the same MTS
  • Component teams within the same MTS, however, will share at least one common distal goal that connects them to the overall MTS

Ref: Turner, John; Thurlow, Nigel; Rivera, Brian
The Flow System: The Evolution of Agile and Lean Thinking in an Age of Complexity (pp. 353-354). Aquiline Books|UNT. Kindle Edition.