Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow

by Matthew Skelton

Summary: Evolving Team Topologies The rapid pace of change in technology, markets, customer and user demands, and regulatory requirements means successful organizations need to expect to adapt and evolve their organization structure on a regular basis. However, organizations that build and run software systems need to ensure that their team interactions optimize for flow, Conway’s law, and a team-first approach (including team cognitive load). By deploying the four fundamental team topologies with the three core team interaction modes, organizations gain crucial clarity of purpose for their teams on an ongoing basis. Teams understand how, when, and why they need to collaborate with other teams; how, when, and why they should be consuming or providing something “as a service”; and how, when, and why they should provide or seek facilitation with another team. Thus, an organization should expect to see different kinds of interactions between different kinds of teams at any given time as the organization responds to new challenges.