TeamTopologies.com
@TeamTopologies
Manuel Pais
Playing
Tetris
with
Cognitive
Load
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Team Topologies
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Organizing business and
technology teams for fast flow
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais
IT Revolution Press, 2019
teamtopologies.com/book
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“innovative tools and concepts for
structuring the next generation
digital operating model”
Charles T. Betz,
Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
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Rapid flow of change
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Rapid feedback from
running systems
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“Great [digital] products emerge from
empowered, fully cross-functional
teams.”
– John Cutler, 2019
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mission
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Without a clear, stable mission
teams are drifting along
constant waves of change
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mission
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Team Cognitive Load
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Team Cognitive Load
Architecture
Infrastructure
Security
topology
the way in which constituent parts are
interrelated or arranged
Greek: τοπολογία (τόπος == ‘place’)
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4 fundamental topologies
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Stream-aligned team
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Handovers kill flow & feedback
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We expect most teams to be
(value) stream-aligned
with end-to-end ownership
(if we want fast flow)
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Team Cognitive Load
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4 fundamental topologies
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Stream-aligned team
Enabling team
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Enabling teams reduce both the
learning curve to acquire capabilities
and the need for “shared experts”
by having them teach and mentor
“on the ground”
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Case Study
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOjdXeGp44E
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Team Cognitive Load
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4 fundamental topologies
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Stream-aligned team
Enabling team
Platform team
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Platform teams provide services that
reduce cognitive load and accelerate
stream-aligned teams to deliver work
with substantial autonomy
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“A digital platform is a foundation
of self-service APIs, tools, services,
knowledge and support which are
arranged as a compelling internal
product.”
– Evan Bottcher, 2018
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A platform is a
curated experience
for its customers
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⏳ ⏳
Blocking
Non-
Blocking
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Remove barriers to flow: hand-offs,
approval gates, manual inspections
Replace with self-service APIs, tools,
portals, etc.
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“Highly evolved firms use a
combination of stream-aligned
and platform teams as the
most effective way to
manage cognitive load at scale”
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Team Cognitive Load
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4 fundamental topologies
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Stream-aligned team
Enabling team
Platform team
Complicated subsystem team
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Complicated subsystem teams build
and evolve part of a system which
requires specialized,
PhD kind of knowledge
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Team Cognitive Load
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4 fundamental topologies
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Flow of change
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Team Interaction Modes
Collaboration: 2 teams working together
X-as-a-Service: 1 provides, 1 consumes
Facilitating: 1 team helps another
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Team Interaction Modes
Collaboration: 2 teams working together
X-as-a-Service: 1 provides, 1 consumes
Facilitating: 1 team helps another
Why, When, How Long