The limits of scale.

Not everything scales. Despite that, scale is another concept that has passed unchallenged into business plans,social networks, and personal wealth. "More is better"

No, it isn't.

I suggest we have to treat scale with caution. I'm working with a challenge at the moment of expanding something that works, and is needed. The advice and tools I am offered though, whilst very good at scaling content do so at the price of relationships. In effect, It enables scale by reducing personal connection. Automating things I currently do whilst I create "more".

It raises the important questions for me:

• What is the marginal impact , versus the marginal revenue of the "more" I can gain through automation?

• How well targeted is the "more". Will they be active users, or passive consumers?

• Will I learn more from shallower interaction with a lot of people, versus deeper interaction with fewer?

• Is this the right thing to scale, or is this just an interim stage of something that would scale much better? Would it cr…