Relational Risk Intelligence (RRI): Seeing collaboration fragility early
In plain English
RRI is a way of measuring how healthy your team's working relationships are — not by asking people, but by observing patterns in how they collaborate. It spots risks like silos forming or too few people carrying all the cross-team work, early enough to do something about it.
Why stand-ups and Jira don't reveal fragility
Traditional coordination tools like daily stand-ups, Jira boards, and Slack channels create formal coordination — structured ways for teams to sync. But they don't show you the informal collaboration patterns that actually determine resilience.
When a key person is overloaded with cross-team requests, or when two teams have stopped talking informally, you won't see it in a sprint board. You'll only notice when delivery slips or someone burns out.
What RRI measures
RRI observes patterns, not content. It looks at:
- Connection breadth: How widely are people connected across teams?
- Bridge concentration: Are just a few people carrying all cross-team collaboration?
- Trend over time: Are patterns improving, stable, or declining?
RRI measures connection patterns between teams and identifies concentration risk
What RRI does NOT do
The three core signals
Breadth
Measures how widely team members are connected across the organisation. Low breadth suggests potential silos forming.
Bridge concentration
Identifies when a small number of people carry disproportionate cross-team collaboration. High concentration is a resilience risk.
Trend
Tracks whether patterns are improving, stable, or declining. Early trend detection enables proactive intervention.
How organisations use RRI
Delivery risk
Spot bottlenecks before they delay releases
Manager overload
Identify when leaders are becoming single points of failure
Reorg stability
Monitor collaboration health during structural changes
Remote resilience
Ensure distributed teams stay connected
How Upcatch acts — and learns
Upcatch doesn't just measure. It enables lightweight action through opt-in meetups and smart introductions. The system follows a continuous improvement loop:
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to establish a baseline?
Typically 2-4 weeks depending on team size and interaction frequency. The system provides directional signals from day one, with confidence improving over time.
Does RRI work if we already do daily stand-ups?
Yes. Stand-ups create formal coordination, but don't reveal informal collaboration patterns, dependency risks, or whether the same few people carry all cross-team work.
How does Upcatch protect employee privacy?
We never read message content. We only observe interaction metadata (who connects with whom) at team level. No individual scores, no surveillance, full opt-out available.