Unstuck: Laying the Foundations for Fast Flow in a Public Sector Regulator

A couple of years ago, we (a public sector regulator) read Team Topologies. Ran the workshops. Fell in love with the book. Teams identified themselves as stream-aligned, platform, and enabling. We had the labels, the energy, and the intent.

Despite early success, the flow didn't scale.

Like many organisations, we started by adopting the vocabulary of Team Topologies, before fully understanding the organisational foundations it assumes are already in place: clear service boundaries, meaningful measurement, teams empowered to make local decisions, and governance that enables rather than controls change. We had team types on paper, but work still flowed through committees, dependencies still blocked delivery, and teams were stuck.

Come and hear how we used a structured discovery process, workshops, mapping, and lunch-and-learns to understand our current reality and help ourselves become unstuck.

What this surfaced was uncomfortable, but necessary. Teams were collaborative and committed, but operating inside a system that constrained their ability to deliver. The gap wasn't a mindset – it was environmental.

We'll share what we found, what we got wrong in our first couple of years, and what we're building now: a service landscape that gives teams clear ownership, a stewardship model across product, delivery, and engineering, reformed change governance, and the measurement foundations we should have started with.

This talk is for anyone who's read the book, done the team typing exercise, and is wondering why it hasn't clicked yet.

Transcript

1. Matt Doherty Head of Delivery Capability The Pensions Regulator Benedict Steele Fast Flow Consultant The Pensions Regulator
2. Matt Doherty Head of Delivery Capability The Pensions Regulator Benedict Steele Fast Flow Consultant The Pensions Regulator
3. Matt Doherty Head of Delivery Capability The Pensions Regulator Benedict Steele Fast Flow Consultant The Pensions Regulator
4. Do you do trunk-based development?
5. Yes
6. How long does a branch live?
7. Two to three weeks “Very Short Lived”
8. Nobody was lying
9. We did exactly the same thing with Team Topologies
10. Unstuck Laying the foundations for fast flow in a public sector regulator Our story so far…
11. Hands up if you have a workplace pension
12. £115m 22 Million ~1000 Colleagues £1.7 Billion ~200 People in DDaT
13. The abstract for our talk says “stream-aligned”
14. We don’t use that word
15. SPOILER ALERT! Our adoption of Team Topologies succeeded…
16. SPOILER ALERT! Our adoption of Team Topologies succeeded…
17. SPOILER ALERT! Our adoption of Team Topologies succeeded… a bit
18. 2021 - Ten year contract ended Highly-coupled High-volume Tech debt High-profile O12 AE BSSH
19. Technology is a supplier
20. Long-lived teams are a fixed cost
21. Sponsors who gave us cover Space to try things
22. Two teams As a trial
23. A long time where nothing shipped
24. Just do one thing!
25. Nobody needed a definition We had all lived it
26. Improved user experience Increased deployment frequency Costs coming down Incident resolution time reduced Change the business could see Significant tech debt reduced
27. Change delivered! Savings! Stability!
28. THIS IS GREAT. LET'S DO IT ACROSS THE REST OF THE ORGANISATION.
29. So, we copied it
30. Design the teams in two weeks
31. The first time, we started with a trial The second time, we started with the flagship
32. We took the team types We left the environment behind 1
33. Nobody had written down why Automatic Enrolment worked Including us
34. What do I mean when I say "template"?
35. Two teams Two answers
36. We didn’t find out until go-live
37. Meaning has long-lived branches too
38. Externally, we delivered what we committed AE
39. We got stuck! Delivering the thing became more important than how we delivered it
40. What steps did you take to become less stuck?
41. Achievement Unlocked 41
42. Last October This conference
43. We found our inspiration
44. This room
45. So, we brought people in
46. What does it feel like to deliver at The Pensions Regulator?
47. We listened We observed We didn’t judge
48. What do you mean when you say trunk-based development?
49. Same word Different picture
50. Discussion: defending what you mean Dialogue: finding out what they mean
51. 20+ interviews 11 team workshops 72 people surveyed Flow of work mapped across teams
52. There is no villain in this story
53. A team type is a claim about what a team can decide on its own If nothing changed about what they can decide, you have just renamed them
54. Teams had learned that proposing an improvement did not reliably lead to action
55. Often the instinct of leaders is to step in and clear the path for them It works once
56. Product Delivery Engineering
57. The gap wasn’t a mindset It was environmental
58. Shared language Shared mental models Lived experience as a team
59. Do real work together Build a shared picture of how things work Name things the same way Co-ordinate with less effort 61
60. Hands up if “platform” means infrastructure
61. Everyone in this room has read the same book
62. Find the gap in understanding before go-live
63. What do I mean when I say “team”?
64. When you say "team" people often think in terms of who the line manager is
65. Service teams Platform groups Enabling _____
66. What do I mean when I say "platform"?
67. "You say the word. I don't understand it the way you're using it."
68. Several weeks of work became a day
69. What do I mean when I say "measure"?
70. "What measurable reduction in duplication, cost, or delivery effort will this produce?"
71. We don’t yet know We are getting close to knowing
72. Starting small Making flow metrics visible and accessible
73. One more thing
74. Twelve coaching sessions High attendance Real engagement in the room
75. Almost nobody did the homework
76. We had assumed people had an hour a fortnight that was theirs We hadn’t checked
77. This time, We check first.
78. Is the ground ready? Teams that last A release path that can flex A sponsor who can change a boundary Permission to act on what we find
79. Then: Does the team have room?
80. We ask some questions twice Once with the sponsor Once with the team
81. The gap is the finding
82. Some teams do not have the space Not ready is about the ground, not the team. BSSH
83. Three Enabling _____, Three Platform Groups go first.
84. Their first job: make room for everyone else
85. If there is no slack, the slack is the intervention
86. Write down what would make you wrong
87. What do I mean when I say "enabling"?
88. Carrying the conditions
89. Product Delivery Engineering
90. Share Debate Act P-D-E
91. Three Enabling teams One triad
92. Success is when the teams are selfsustaining, and then we help the next one…
93. 1. Copy the conditions, not the structure. 2. Check the ground before you start. 3. When people disagree about whether they’re ready, listen to that.
94. We can give you our words
95. We can’t give you what made them mean anything
96. What do I mean when I say "unstuck"?
97. We are not unstuck!
98. We are less stuck We know why We know what we are doing about it
99. We will come back It’s just we’ll not be finished
100. FIN! …NOT FIN!