The seams of scale

When lots of people contribute to something, there are seams where each person’s work is stitched onto someone else’s.

• Open-source is great because everyone can contribute. But when “everyone” is involved, the result is seldom seamless.
• Proprietary is great because a small team can design something truly seamless. But “a group” can’t scale like “everyone” can.

Turns out we can have it both ways. When our small teams gift the world our work, and lead “everybody” as a community, our small projects are repaid in scale.

It only takes leadership and generosity to remove the seams.