Team Topologies

Design better teams to deliver value faster.

"This book will help executives and business leaders focus on the key strategies of high performance teams to effectively address the needs of today and the evolving landscape of tomorrow.” —Barry O'Reilly, author of Unlearn and Lean Enterprise

Effective software teams are essential for any organization to deliver value continuously and sustainably. But how do you build the best team organization for your specific goals, culture, and needs?

Team Topologies is a practical, step-by-step, adaptive model for organizational design and team interaction based on four fundamental team types and three team interaction patterns. It is a model that treats teams as the fundamental means of delivery, where team structures and communication pathways are able to evolve with technological and organizational maturity.

In Team Topologies, IT consultants Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais share secrets of successful team patterns and interactions to help readers choose and evolve the right team patterns for their organization, making sure to keep the software healthy and optimize value streams.

Team Topologies is a major step forward in organizational design for software, presenting a well-defined way for teams to interact and interrelate that helps make the resulting software architecture clearer and more sustainable, turning inter-team problems into valuable signals for the self-steering organization.

Figures & Tables
Case Studies & Industry Examples
Foreword by Ruth Malan
Preface

PART I TEAMS AS THE MEANS OF DELIVERY
Chapter 1: The Problem with Org Charts
Communication Structures of an Organization

Team Topologies: A New Way of Thinking about Teams

The Revival of Conway's Law

Cognitive Load and Bottlenecks

Summary: Rethink Team Structures, Purpose, and Interactions
Chapter 2: Conway's Law and Why It Matters
Understanding and Using Conway's Law

The Reverse Conway Maneuver

Software Architectures that Encourage Team-Scoped Flow

Organization Design Requires Technical Expertise

Restrict Unnecessary Communication

Beware: Naive Uses of Conway's Law

Summary: Conway's Law Is Critical for Efficient Team Design in Tech
Chapter 3: Team-First Thinking
Use Small, Long-Lived Teams as the Standard

Good Boundaries Minimize Cognitive Load

Design “Team APIs” and Facilitate Team Interactions

Warning: Engineering Practices Are Foundational

Summary: Limit Teams' Cognitive Load and Facilitate Team Interactions to Go Faster

PART II TEAM TOPOLOGIES THAT WORK FOR FLOW
Chapter 4: Static Team Topologies
Team Anti-Patterns

Design for Flow of Change

DevOps and the DevOps Topologies

Successful Team Patterns

Considerations When Choosing a Topology

Use DevOps Topologies to Evolve the Organization

Summary: Adopt and Evolve Team Topologies that Match Your Current Context
Chapter 5: The Four Fundamental Team Topologies
Stream-Aligned Teams

Enabling Teams

Complicated-Subsystem Teams

Platform Teams

Avoid Team Silos in the Flow of Change

A Good Platform Is “Just Big Enough”

Convert Common Team Types to the Fundamental Team Topologies

Summary: Use Loosely Coupled, Modular Groups of Four Specific Team Types
Chapter 6: Choose Team-First Boundaries
A Team-First Approach to Software Responsibilities and Boundaries

Hidden Monoliths and Coupling

Software Boundaries or “Fracture Planes”

Real-World Example: Manufacturing

Summary: Choose Software Boundaries to Match Team Cognitive Load

PART III EVOLVING TEAM INTERACTIONS FOR INNOVATION AND RAPID DELIVERY
Chapter 7: Team Interaction Modes
Well-Defined Interactions Are Key to Effective Teams

The Three Essential Team Interaction Modes

Team Behaviors for Each Interaction Mode

Choosing Suitable Team Interaction Modes

Choosing Basic Team Organization

Choose Team Interaction Modes to Reduce Uncertainty and Enhance Flow

Summary: Three Well-Defined Team Interaction Modes
Chapter 8: Evolve Team Structures with Organizational Sensing
How Much Collaboration Is Right for Each Team Interaction?

Accelerate Learning and Adoption of New Practices

Constant Evolution of Team Topologies

Combining Teams Topologies for Greater Effectiveness

Triggers for Evolution of Team Topologies

Self Steer Design and Development

Summary: Evolving Team Topologies
Conclusion: The Next-Generation Digital Operating Model
Four Team Types and Three Interaction Modes

Team-First Thinking: Cognitive Load, Team API, Team-Sized Architecture

Strategic Application of Conway's Law

Evolve Organization Design for Adaptability and Sensing

Team Topologies Alone Are Not Sufficient for IT Effectiveness

Next Steps: How to Get Started with Team Topologies

Glossary
Recommended Reading
References
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
About the Authors