meaning - What does "at scale" mean?


Whats does the expression at scale mean?


Does it mean "on a larger scale" or does it mean "at a level appropriate to the what's available"? I came up with these two definitions by looking the expression up on the internet, but I still feel very confused.


Here are two sentences:



Over the course of that first afternoon, the next months, and finally over several years, we honed our practice activities into tools that could help make teachers better, at scale


If you seek to do somethings great, you most likely live a battle for talent – for smart and capable people who can do great things at scale.




Answer



See scalability (Wiki)



scalability is the ability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work in a capable manner or its ability to be enlarged to accommodate that growth.



In the given cases,



tools that could help make teachers better, at scale



implies those that could measure up to the size of the task.



people who can do great things at scale.



similarly implies people who can do great things when those things manifest in a real-life (larger) systems. It is easier to demonstrate a prototype supersonic aircraft, but extremely complex to build a really usable/ commercial product of the same design concept.


We do not say on a large scale in this context, but instead we say at scale, because the magnitude could either increase or decrease from time to time. Adapting accordingly and producing comparable results in all cases is a challenge in itself. Think prosthetic & orthotic devices, for one.


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