In December 2025, a 6-person product squad at a 180-person fintech company scored 52 on their first DAC diagnostic. Foundation stage. Below benchmark for their team size and vertical.
Twelve months later, they scored 74. Scaling stage. Top quartile for their cohort.
They did not hire anyone new. They did not buy new tools. They did not run an offsite or a transformation program. They improved 0.3 points per cycle, consistently, for 24 cycles.
That is what compounding looks like.
The first cycle, DAC identified that design review coverage was at 40 percent. Below the 80 percent benchmark. The team lead pushed one intelligent backlog item to Linear: "Reinstate design review for features above 3-point estimate."
The team worked it. Design review coverage climbed to 68 percent by cycle 3. To 85 percent by cycle 6. By cycle 12, it was a habit nobody thought about anymore.
Meanwhile, DAC was watching the compound effects. When design review coverage improved, two dependent dimensions unlocked: visual consistency and interaction quality. Those dimensions had been flat for months. They started climbing without anyone explicitly working on them.
That is the compounding engine. Improve one dimension, and the dimensions downstream of it start moving. Not because you worked on them directly. Because the system is connected.
Cycle 12 to cycle 18 was the inflection point. The squad was no longer improving because DAC told them to. They were improving because the system made it impossible not to. The habits were in place. The measurement was automatic. The coaching was specific.
By cycle 24, the team-product gap that had plagued the squad for two years had closed. Their product finally reflected what the team was capable of producing.
The math is simple. 0.3 points per cycle. 24 cycles. 52 to 74. No magic. Just a system that compounds.
Your team can do the same thing. The score is the door. The compounding is the outcome.
Free. No sign-up required.