Towards Architecture Organization Topologies for Sustainable Fast Flow of Change Eduardo da Silva, PhD (esilva.net | @emgsilva | [email protected]) Craft-Conf 2023, 19/05/2023

Sustainable Fast Flow of Change ↳quickly & sustainably respond to needs from our environment 2 Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash 2

3 Inspired by: Reflections: Sociotechnical Systems Design and Organization Change

4 stretching social systems & creating complex processes => increasingly messier social and technical systems… Inspired by: Reflections: Sociotechnical Systems Design and Organization Change

5 Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash Outcome: continuously “fight” against the environment (external & internal)

🏢 These old org structures & Operating models limit the dynamics & velocity that modern orgs need 6 Photo by Cole Patrick on Unsplash 6

7 Inspired by: Reflections: Sociotechnical Systems Design and Organization Change

◌ Acknowledge that orgs are “Open System” - continuously affected by their environment 8 Photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash 8

9 💡Creating org cultures & structures that nurture sustainable learning, designing and decision-making Photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash 9

⛔ Move away from Tech Factory Thinking Models 10

🎯 Sustainable Fast Flow of Change Operating Models 11 Sociotechnical Systems Evolution & Architecture, Eduardo da Silva

TL;DR: approaches to architecture in teams & organization will take different forms & change in time (to allow for sustainable flow of change in the org). Embracing that is key to understand and improve them more explicitly. 12 Architecture Topologies & Architecture as Enabling Team, Eduardo da Silva

13 Key dimension of Architecture Topologies: “evolution” Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

A model for Architecture Evolution 14 *Would you like architects with your architecture? | images credits: Gregor Hohpe (Stefan Toth)

15 *Would you like architects with your architecture? | images credits: Gregor Hohpe

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17 Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash ❓What about Architecture (learning, design and decision-making) across teams and the organization?

18 Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash 🕸 org is a network of teams and scopes. Looking at “team scope” architecture in isolation is not enough!

“A system is more than the sum of its parts… It loses its essential properties when it is taken apart…“ Russell Ackoff 19 On Systems Thinking, Russell Ackoff

20 Organization Scopes and Relations credits: Technical Leadership, Ruth Malan

Example: Product-centric Organization Scopes ● Team scope is just one scope, a sub-system in a Product scope ● Product Group scope tends to be a way to scale related product (scopes) 21 Product Taxonomy, Ross Clanton, Amy Walters, Jason Zubrick, Pat Birkeland, Mik Kersten, Alan Nance, and Anders Wallgren

22 Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash 🎯 enable architecture across all the org “Scopes” so it can achieve its purpose & goals and respond to its environment

23 Photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash 23 Key dimension of Architecture Topologies: “Scopes”

Architecture Organization Topologies (AOTs) 24

State of Architecture Organization Topologies (AOTs) 25 Common Current AOTs Popular Trends AOTs Pioneering AOTs

Common Current AOTs: Architect designs & decides, Teams execute 26 Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

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29 Photo by Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash Popular Trends AOTs : Multi-team Enabling Architect & Team Architects

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32 The Advice Process https://martinfowler.com/articles/scaling-architecture-conversationally.html

33 Scaling the Practice of Architecture, Conversationally, Andrew Harmel-Law 33

34 34 Scaling the Practice of Architecture, Conversationally, Andrew Harmel-Law

35 35 Scaling the Practice of Architecture, Conversationally, Andrew Harmel-Law

36 36 Scaling the Practice of Architecture, Conversationally, Andrew Harmel-Law

37 37 Inspired on: Reinventing Organizations book, by Frederic Laloux ⚠Team can decide to not take the advice (but they MUST seek it) Scaling the Practice of Architecture, Conversationally, Andrew Harmel-Law

38 38 Scaling the Practice of Architecture, Conversationally, Andrew Harmel-Law

39 “What worries you about the Advice Process?” Credits: DDD EU 2022 Keynote, Andrew Harmel-Law, Diana Montalion, Mike Rozinsky, Gayathri Thiyagarajan and Dan Young

40 “How confident are you in the advice process?” Credits: DDD EU 2022 Keynote, Andrew Harmel-Law, Diana Montalion, Mike Rozinsky, Gayathri Thiyagarajan and Dan Young

41 “An idea to make us more confident in this process” Credits: DDD EU 2022 Keynote, Andrew Harmel-Law, Diana Montalion, Mike Rozinsky, Gayathri Thiyagarajan and Dan Young

42 Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash Pioneering AOTs : Anybody Architecture

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🧭 What Next for you? ● Understand where you are ● Is that enough for having a sustainable flow of change & cope with your environment? ○ If not, what are the key aspects to change? ● How to make sure these questions are being asked continuously - and you are acting on them? 45

Thank you! Eduardo da Silva, PhD Independent consultant - Sustainable Fast Flow of Change # @emgsilva | esilva.net | [email protected] 󰗔 Architecture Topologies: emgsilva.net/architecture-topologies 💡 “companion article” of this talk coming soon on esilva.net 46

📚 References ● Architecture Organization Topologies, Eduardo da Silva ● Architecture Topologies & Architecture as Enabling Team, Eduardo da Silva ● Would you like architects with your architecture?, Gregor Hohpe ● Less is More with Minimalist Architecture, Ruth Malan and Dana Bredemeyer ● Team Topologies, Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais ● Sociotechnical Systems Evolution & Architecture, Eduardo da Silva ● On Systems Thinking, Russell Ackoff (analysis by Eduardo da Silva) ● Scaling the Practice of Architecture, Conversationally, Andrew Harmel-Law ● Reinventing Organizations, Frederic Laloux ● Advice Process Playbook, Equal Experts Consulting ● Accelerate, Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim 47