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Finding team and service boundaries with User Needs Mapping

Finding team and service boundaries with User Needs Mapping

As your team grows, there are times when the interactions between team members start to feel "awkward." These "awkward interactions" can be potential triggers for team evolution - we need to evolve our teams because something doesn't feel right. However, knowing the team needs to evolve and deciding how the team should evolve are two different things.

This follows a real-world case study of a company growing its team and needing to find alternative ways of organizing itself. The talk explores how, in an ideal world, we might turn to techniques such as Wardley Mapping for strategic decision-making, Domain Driven Design for domain-related decisions, and Team Topologies for determining how to organize the teams. However, learning these techniques can seem overwhelming and cause us to procrastinate when attempting to adopt them. This talk explores how using techniques introduced with Team Topologies, such as Independent Service Heuristics and User Needs Mapping, can help us to identify and validate potential team and service boundaries while moving us closer to the adoption of techniques such as Wardley Mapping and DDD without the upfront cognitive overload.

Richard Allen

May 26, 2023
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  1. Finding team and
    service boundaries with
    User Needs Mapping
    Photo by Monstera: https://www.pexels.com/photo/curious-schoolboy-looking-through-magnifier-at-camera-in-room-6186146/
    Rich Allen
    Fast Flow Conf, London, 25 May 2023
    1

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  2. Rich Allen
    Head of Consulting at Conjurer Solutions Ltd
    LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richardallen
    Mastodon: mastodon.social/@richallen
    Twitter: @rich_allen
    2

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  3. "We build technology to empower and
    inform responsible mobility choices"
    3

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  4. 4
    Outcomes of User Needs Mapping
    Better alignment with marketing,
    product and customer services
    Reduced cognitive load
    and context switching
    Clearer ownership of
    systems and capabilities
    Clearer understanding of
    purpose for staff

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  5. Trigger for team evolution
    WHAT’S THE
    STORY?
    The origins of User Needs Mapping?
    User Needs Mapping in action
    Key takeaways

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  6. Trigger for team
    evolution

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  7. Strong growth plan
    7

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  8. The “business” and “engineering”
    8

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  9. One daily sync
    Customer services
    Production
    Sales
    Marketing
    Operations
    Engineering
    Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-and-blue-football-jerseys-260606/
    9

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  10. Communication channel explosion
    2015
    2021
    2022 ??
    10

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  11. It just feels like….
    …a big ball of mud
    Dave Hulbert, CTO, Passenger
    11

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  12. “Awkward!”
    Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-and-blue-football-jerseys-260606/
    12

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  13. Team evolution
    patterns…
    One by One
    Merging
    Isolation
    Switching
    Grow and split
    https://www.heidihelfand.com/dynamic-reteaming-book/
    13

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  14. How should we
    split the team?
    Photo by SHVETS production: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brain-inscription-on-container-on-head-of-faceless-woman-7203724/
    14

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  15. Photo by Ylanite Koppens: https://www.pexels.com/photo/beige-analog-compass-697662/
    …but where do we start?
    We need to find new team boundaries…
    15

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  16. The origins of
    User Needs Mapping?
    16

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  17. Susanne Kaiser
    “Assess our strategic direction with
    Wardley Maps, then use DDD to
    understand our domain and apply
    Team Topologies to structure our
    teams.”...simple, right?

    17

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  18. We’ll have book for that soon(ish)…
    …but in the meantime…
    18

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  19. We can learn….
    Wardley Mapping
    Users
    User needs
    Capabilities
    Dependencies
    Leadership stratagems
    Evolution
    Doctrinal principles
    Boundaries
    Granularity
    Clarity of intent
    Inertia / Resistance
    Aptitude / Attitude
    Climate patterns
    Maturity
    Genesis
    Custom Built
    Product/rental
    Strategy cycle
    Value chain axis
    Settlers
    Gameplay Inertia
    Custom built
    Landscape
    19

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  20. “It takes 8 years to learn Wardley
    Mapping…”

    Ben Mosior
    20

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  21. Ben Mosior
    “It takes 8 years to learn Wardley
    Mapping…
    …7 years thinking about starting
    and 1 year doing”

    learnwardleymapping.com
    21

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  22. Ben Mosior
    When it comes to learning Wardley
    Mapping…
    ”Don’t lead with the label”

    22

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  23. Ben Mosior
    23

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  24. And…
    Domain Driven Design
    Anti-corruption layer
    Domain
    Layered architecture
    Domain event
    Value object
    Infrastructure layer
    Domain layer
    Context map
    Event storming
    Aggregate
    Subdomain
    Ubiquitous language
    Shared Kernel
    Entity
    Factory
    Aggregate root
    Customer supplier
    Strategy cycle
    Application layer
    Repository
    Bounded Context
    Strategic design
    Service
    Core domain charts
    24

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  25. Matthew Skelton
    “The first rule of DDD club: ”

    25

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  26. Matthew Skelton
    “The first rule of DDD club:
    …don’t mention DDD”

    26

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  27. And…
    Team Topologies
    Fundamental team types
    Platform as a product
    User needs mapping
    Fracture planes
    Cognitive load
    Team API
    Interaction modes
    Fast flow
    Independent service heuristics
    Thinnest viable platform
    27

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  28. This is gonna take a while!
    28

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  29. Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-sitting-in-a-movie-theater-smiling-while-wearing-3d-glasses-8272176/
    Fast flow Cognitive load
    29

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  30. Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/halloween-candy-inside-a-skull-5435179/
    How might we reduce the
    cognitive load of learning
    Wardley Mapping, DDD
    and Team Topologies
    whilst still getting value?
    30

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  31. Independent Service Heuristics
    “Could this thing be a cloud service?”
    aka: DDD-Lite
    Photo by Donald Tong: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-cloudy-blue-sky-133953/
    teamtopologies.com/ish
    31

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  32. Matthew Skelton
    “There is value to be found in the
    first stage of Wardley Mapping.
    It provides a lens through which we
    can find candidate team and service
    boundaries.”

    32

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  33. If Wardley Mapping is…
    Users
    User Needs
    Capabilities
    Dependencies
    Evolution
    Doctrinal principles
    Boundaries
    Granularity
    Clarity of intent
    Inertia / Resistance
    Aptitude / Attitude
    Climate patterns
    Leadership stratagems
    33

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  34. Then User Needs Mapping is…
    Users
    User Needs
    Capabilities
    Dependencies
    Evolution
    Doctrinal principles
    Boundaries
    Granularity
    Clarity of intent
    Inertia / Resistance
    Aptitude / Attitude
    Climate patterns
    Leadership stratagems
    The first stage of the Wardley Mapping.
    Without the evolutionary axis, simply Users,
    User Needs, Capabilities and
    Dependencies.
    34

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  35. Rich Allen
    “The first rule of Wardley Map club:
    …don’t mention Wardley Maps”

    35

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  36. Rich Allen
    “The first rule of Wardley Map club:
    …don’t mention Wardley Maps and
    lead with User Needs Mapping”

    36

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  37. User Needs Mapping
    in action

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  38. Photo by Vusal Ibadzade: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-double-decker-bus-beside-black-taxi-cab-on-asphalt-road-1345717/
    User Needs Mapping at Passenger
    teamtopologies.com/unm

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  39. How do we make sense of it?
    Dave Hulbert, CTO, Passenger
    39

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  40. Who are Passenger’s users?
    40

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  41. Some heuristics for identifying users
    “Choose a scope to explore”
    “Consider all users - not just the
    one who pays ”
    “Don’t just focus on external users”
    “Identify users with differing needs”
    “Who interacts with your
    systems or products
    (internal and external)?” “How might you classify or
    group types of user?”
    41

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  42. What are their needs?
    42

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  43. Some heuristics for user needs
    “If you showed it to a user, would
    they recognise it as their need?”
    “Try to use verbs instead of nouns
    to describe the user need”
    “Try to empathize with users”
    “Does it describe the problem
    rather than the solution?”
    “Is it written with words
    real users use?”
    https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-research/start-by-learning-user-needs
    43

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  44. How do we meet those needs?
    44

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  45. Which teams own the capabilities?
    45

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  46. What tech systems are involved?
    46

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  47. Identify candidate streams
    47

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  48. Identify candidate teams
    48

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  49. Annotate & discuss
    Does this make
    sense as an
    independent service?
    Does it make sense
    for these to be owned
    by a platform?
    Is there too much
    cognitive load for one
    team?
    What systems would
    need to change to
    enable this?
    49

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  50. Use with internal teams too!
    50

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  51. Use with internal teams too!
    51

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  52. Use with internal teams too!
    52

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  53. Rinse & repeat
    1. Identify users
    2. Identify user needs
    3. Map capabilities to those needs
    4. Identify potential team boundaries
    5. Go to step 1
    53

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  54. Key takeaways
    54

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  55. Aim for Wardley
    Mapping, DDD and
    Team Topologies
    but…
    55

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  56. Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-sitting-in-a-movie-theater-smiling-while-wearing-3d-glasses-8272176/
    Fast flow Cognitive load
    Starting with
    Team Topologies
    can help get
    you there in
    smaller steps
    56

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  57. User Needs Mapping can be a
    bridge towards Wardley Maps
    Photo by Klas Tauberman: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grey-concrete-bridge-on-body-of-water-under-blue-and-white-sky-during-daytime-128362/
    57

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  58. Independent Service Heuristics can
    be a stepping stone towards DDD
    Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/view-of-building-exterior-327483/
    58

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  59. User Needs Mapping
    provides a lens through
    which we can find
    candidate team and
    service boundaries to
    better serve your users
    Photo by Ethan Sees: https://www.pexels.com/photo/round-mirror-2853432/
    59

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  60. Tom Quay, CEO, Passenger
    “User Needs Mapping has helped us
    to identify previously unseen ways of
    organizing our teams and was a
    valuable part of applying Team
    Topologies at Passenger”

    60

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  61. How might you re-organize your
    teams to better meet user needs?
    Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-brown-coat-standing-in-front-of-books-4861300/
    61
    https://teamtopologies.com/unm

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  62. THANK YOU
    LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richardallen
    Mastodon: mastodon.social/@richallen
    Twitter: @rich_allen
    62

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