How Scroll Designed Their Organization with 100% Remote Participation

‍The Challenge: Scroll needed to redesign their entire organizational structure—councils, priorities, decision-making processes—with input from a globally distributed community. Previous attempts had been too ambitious, leading to participant fatigue and incomplete outcomes.

The Innovation: Instead of the usual "workshop first, digital follow-up" approach, Scroll flipped the script. They started with AI-facilitated async conversations through Harmonica, then used those insights to fuel focused live workshops.

What Happened

Over several weeks in late 2024, Scroll ran a coordinated process combining individual AI-facilitated sessions with live workshops:

Phase 1 - Async Exploration: Community members explored organizational design questions at their own pace, in their own language (English and Spanish), with an AI facilitator that asked contextual follow-up questions based on their responses.

Phase 2 - Live Convergence: Workshops started with pre-populated Miro boards full of categorized insights from the async sessions. No blank canvases, no "does anyone have thoughts?" followed by crickets—just focused discussion and decision-making.

The Results

✅ Multiple governance councils proposed and adopted through formal decision cycles

✅ Clear domain priorities identified (Education, Technical Work, Ecosystem Growth) with specific next steps

✅ Unexpected insights surfaced: Spanish-speaking participants revealed perspectives that had been hidden in English-only processes

✅ Better scope management: Unlike previous cycles that tried to do too much, CCC3 delivered on appropriately calibrated goals

Three Key Learnings

1. Native language = better insights

When Spanish-speaking members could participate in their native language, they shared perspectives that hadn't emerged in English-only processes. This wasn't just translation—it was genuine accessibility unlocking latent insight.

2. Async-first beats sync-first

Starting with individual reflection before group dynamics meant richer workshop discussions. People came prepared with thoughts already developed, and workshops could focus on convergence rather than idea generation.

3. Mid-session pivots matter

Unlike rigid surveys, the AI facilitator could adjust questions based on early responses. When Session 1 showed more energy around "starting" initiatives than "stopping" them, the team shifted focus accordingly.

The Bottom Line

As Eugene, Scroll's Governance Lead, put it: "The goal isn't to automate governance but to augment human deliberation. Harmonica helped us hear every voice while still converging on actionable decisions."

Ready to Transform Your Group Coordination?

Scroll's success shows that meaningful participatory governance at scale isn't just possible—it's practical. Whether you're designing organizational structures, gathering stakeholder input, or making complex collective decisions, Harmonica can help you maintain both depth and scale.