Understanding how Team Topologies can help software teams work more efficiently.

Have you heard of the concept of "Team Topologies"? A relatively new approach to business and, in particular, technology team organization in order to maximize software output. And relatively quickly. Learn how Team Topologies work, the benefits, and how the approach can be used in this article below.?

Anyone who works with software teams and has to implement features and deliver software understands the importance of efficiency. When product teams are forced to deal with time-consuming administrative tasks, valuable working hours and even days are lost, and valuable resources are wasted. The Team Topologies approach is an excellent method for reducing cognitive load. About a year ago, I first heard the term. Many people in the industry are now talking about it.??

What in the world is Team Topology??

The Team Topologies approach, developed by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, specifically addresses a problem that many organizations face: not delivering software to customers quickly and effectively enough. Software teams are frequently under enormous pressure to create value. Apart from their main tasks, they're also busy with dozens of other things, which means they can be slow to implement features - or their output is lower than everyone would like.?

This is where Team Topologies comes in: a straightforward, step-by-step model that combines four fundamental types of teams - team topologies - and three core team interaction modes. This enables software teams to be structured in such a way that their cognitive load is reduced sufficiently to allow them to focus on what is truly important: creating features and value for their end users.?

How do you begin using Team Topologies??

Team Topologies recommends the following method for applying its concepts.?

1. Determine the types of teams you currently have.
2. Match technology teams to the following fundamental team types:?

• Stream-aligned: The team concentrates on a single, significant work process, such as a product, service, or user journey.?
• Complicated subsystem: In charge of a component of the system that requires specific skills and knowledge. As a result, the majority of team members are experts in a specific field.?
• Platform: The platform team creates systems and programs for internal use and to support cross-functional teams.?
• Enabling: Assists the stream-aligned team in overcoming obstacles and identifying gaps in capabilities.?

3. Limit each team's cognitive load:?

• Create a culture of trust.?
• Ongoingly assign the team to one or more areas.?
• Limit the size of the subsystem on which the team is working. Provide an underlying platform on which the team can build.?
• Natural fracture planes can be used to break apart monoliths.?

4. Use the "Reverse Conway" method to assist you in:?

• Drive software systems that are in sync with the flow of business change pressures.?
• Create software system architectures that are long-term for the organization.?
• Limit the search area for technical solutions.?

5. Determine the current and future modes of team interaction.?

6. Clearly direct (and limit) inter-team collaboration to?

• Accelerate technological, organisational, or situational learning through rapid discovery and learning.?
• Inform and direct the creation of internal platforms and complex subsystem components.?

7. Team structures should be explicitly evolved over time.?

8. For organizational sensing, use team interactions.?

Let's discuss a Use case?

The best way for me to explain this is by turning to a use case. This client is a car manufacturer, and we manage their digital portfolio on their behalf. We create their online stores and handle other website-related issues; in short, we handle everything related to their digital touchpoints.??

They now have a software team in place that is responsible for developing a highly sophisticated technology platform in order to reduce the workload on the other teams. This platform team is responsible for a wide range of cross-cutting issues, including regulatory compliance and all technical security-related issues, as well as highly technical matters such as certificate management (handling of all digital certificates used to identify systems).?

The platform team's solution is now available to all other teams in the company.?

This means that individual stream-aligned teams are no longer required to create certificates to secure their own applications. Others' lives are made much easier by the platform: they only need to order the correct certificate for their application on the platform.?

So, we have the platform team that has considered what is required and how it will be used, and has implemented it - which 50 to 60 (!) other teams will now benefit from.?

What advantages do Team Topologies provide??

This approach, as described by Team Topologies, was not specifically introduced as such at this (or any other) customer, nor did it necessitate any complex reorganization. iauro simply assisted the customer in streamlining an existing organization, improving things, and making more informed decisions.?

• Lots of design freedom: The approach provides a lot of design freedom. You divide your team based on team topology, but the approach you take after that, or whether you work with Kanban, Scrum, or SAFe?, is entirely up to you.?
• Value addition: Effective software is critical for generating ongoing value. Team Topologies improves modern software delivery by optimizing team interactions and improving organizational design.?
• Significant competitive advantage: "Fast and good" are not mutually exclusive with Team Topologies, and you become extremely competitive in the market.?
• Great success factor: When teams add a lot of value to a company, deliver high-quality output, and exude a positive work ethic, other teams are inspired.?

I'd like to emphasize the last point about "teams" in particular. When platform and product teams can deliver, they seem to be ecstatic. When a team is less stressed and able to focus on its primary tasks, it has more fun, is more efficient, and consequently improves its environment and communication with others.?

Team Topologies are appropriate for whom??

There is no single industry. In theory, Team Topologies is applicable to all industries in which we currently work. To summarize, Team Topologies can be used anywhere the end user is involved in digital innovations.?

Suitable for medium and large businesses. A technical platform can be prohibitively expensive for a startup. However, for companies with five to six teams, it is worthwhile to consider developing a technical platform. And it's worth building one for companies with ten or more teams.?

There is no platform requirement. You do not need to implement a technical solution before using Team Topologies. All you need to get started is a Wiki page! Let's revisit our car manufacturer's use case with certificate management. Of course, it's convenient if all teams can order a certificate with a single mouse click. To begin, another viable option is to add relevant code to the Wiki page, which each team can then copy for their own use. That alone reduces the load.?

Adoption?

Team Topologies awareness must first be scaled out. Many people have heard of the approach but are unsure of what it is, how it differs from others, whether it is compatible with their current organization, and so on.?

The key to success, in my opinion, is to reduce the cognitive load for platform teams and thus give them more creation flexibility.?

Begin small. It's pointless to implement the strategy across 40 teams at once. Begin with a pilot project and see where it takes you. Best wishes!?