Trapped in 'Platforms'
At last week's Fast Flow conference, we talked a lot about 'Platforms' according to Team Topologies :
Platform team: a grouping of other team types that provide a compelling internal product to accelerate delivery by Stream-aligned teams
Many of the examples I saw presented a typical pattern of a platform serving stream aligned teams (where the value is delivered). And X-As-A-Service (XAAS) is hailed as the interaction method that will save our cognitive load by avoiding talking to each other ??.
The word 'Platform' reinforces the IT silo
Sadly, the word 'platform' traps Team Topologies practitioners inside IT. Let's check the dictionary .
Often 'platform' means just the infrastructure layer inside IT, as in the trending term 'Platform Engineering':
Platform (noun) I.11.a. A standard system architecture; a (type of) machine and/or operating system, regarded as the base on which software applications are run.
If we are lucky, 'platform' means a digital service with a customer experience:
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Platform (noun) I.11.b. An online system through which a service is provided or digital products are sold; a website or application that provides access to digital content; esp. one that hosts user-generated content that can be shared and engaged with by other users.
Either way, most people who identify as a part of a platform team report to the CIO.
Value Streams over Platforms
'Value Stream' is also an overloaded term. Recently it has been applied to this problem space of team and organisation design to maximise the flow of value. This lifts the scope well above the 'platform' and gives us a fighting chance to break out of the IT silo and optimise for end-to-end value.
Steve Pereira explained the relationships between Platforms and Value Stream orientation nicely. Though quickly we can see that optimising for Platforms may create dependencies that didn't need to be there. Let's optimise for Value Streams in the first place.
Agile Coach, Product Manager, Online Remote Facilitator, AgileHR Manifesto Author, Trainer for Scrum Alliance, LeSS and ICAgile.
2 个月I agree 100%. I call these teams End-To-End Agile Teams! This does not mean platforms go away, just that any Team can work on that platform or any other work as well. Instead of Teams being dedicated to enhancing a platform, they are dedicated to enhancing the value to the customer. That's not over; that's instead of. Having dedicated Value Stream teams avoids all the traditional approaches to teams chained to prioritise being specific Enabling Teams, Platform Teams, or Subystem Teams. You know all the other hand-off Team Topology options (although the authors claim they don't like this but say its still okay) that are present. I call them "Trad Teams". Yep, 75% of Team Topologies == Anti-Value.
Lean Portfolio Management | Product Operating Model
2 个月Steve Pereira gave us a better view of end to end value streams over platforms