Autonomous product teams are key to sustainable software delivery. But what does autonomy really mean? Do we expect the team to set up CI/CD, automate infra, test/UX all the things, and, of course, run and monitor their product? And still, deliver features? Four fundamental team topologies and three interaction modes can help reduce the cognitive load on product teams. So you’re trying to move from agile project teams to business-aligned product teams. Everyone from the CEO to middle management is on board. Yet somehow it’s not that easy, is it? You’ve just about figured out how to split infrastructure responsibilities between teams when the next great tech for cost-effective scalability is out there and it doesn’t fit in the new model. Oh, and let’s not forget that products X and Y have no automated tests since they were developed by temporary project teams. The underlying questions are: What are the product team’s responsibilities? How do they interact with other teams and when? The fundamental team topologies provide a framework for thinking about and aligning teams with an expected set of behaviors and responsibilities. In other words, we are clarifying their purpose and ways of working. We recommend four fundamental team topologies, each with a well-defined purpose and responsibilities. Along with stream-aligned teams (of which product teams are a subset), the other three topologies recommended are platform, enabling, and complicated subsystem. This family of topologies provides the support system necessary for product teams to thrive. In this discussion, we will see what each of these topologies brings to the table and how they enable organizations to quickly evolve and respond to both new technology and business requirements over time. This talk draws on research and case studies from the book ​Team Topologies​ by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais (IT Revolution Press, 2019) together with first-hand consulting experience from the authors with organizations around the world. ​Team Topologies​ are the evolution of the highly praised ​DevOps Topologies,​ focusing on an evolutionary approach for organization design. Manuel Pais is co-author of Team Topologies: organizing business and technology teams for fast flow. Recognized by TechBeacon as a DevOps thought leader, Manuel is an independent IT organizational consultant and trainer, focused on team interactions, delivery practices, and accelerating flow. Manuel is also a LinkedIn instructor on Accelerating Continuous Delivery in the Enterprise.

1. TeamTopologies.com
@TeamTopologies
Product Teams
Need a Family Too!
Manuel Pais
@manupaisable

2. 2
Manuel Pais
Independent IT organizational consultant and trainer
Ex-dev, ex-build manager, ex-tester, ex-QA lead
LinkedIn instructor on Accelerating Continuous Delivery
Twitter: @manupaisable
LinkedIn: manuelpais

3. Team Topologies
3
Organizing business and
technology teams for fast flow
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais
IT Revolution Press (2019)
https://teamtopologies.com

4. Origins - DevOps Topologies
4
CC BY-SA devopstopologies.com
@TeamTopologies

5. “Great products emerge from
empowered, fully cross-functional
teams.”
– John Cutler, 2019
5

7. devopstopologies.com

8. devopstopologies.com

9. 9
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/devops-sre/the-2019-accelerate-state-of-
devops-elite-performance-productivity-and-scaling

12. 12
There’s a limit to
the scalability
of product teams alone

13. 13

14. 14

19. 19
Handovers (can) kill flow

21. 21

22. “Great products emerge from
empowered, fully cross-functional
teams.”
– John Cutler, 2019
22

23. “Despite striving to be
cross-functional, one of the thornier
problems product teams often face is
lacking some necessary
competence.”
– Peter Neumark, 2015
23

24. arch &
design
coding
testing
deploying

25. coding
testing
deploying
infra
arch &
design

26. coding
testing
deploying
infra
CI/CD
arch &
design

27. coding
testing
deploying
infra
ops
CI/CD
arch &
design

28. coding
testing
deploying
security
infra
ops
CI/CD
arch &
design

29. coding
testing
deploying
security
infra
ops
CI/CD
arch &
designbuilding the
product right

30. coding
testing
deploying
security
infra
ops
UXmonitor
metrics
product
viability
QA
CI/CD
arch &
design

31. coding
testing
deploying
security
infra
ops
UXmonitor
metrics
product
viability
QA
CI/CD
arch &
designbuilding the
right product

32. 32
autonomy

33. 33
competences

34. 34
How to alleviate the tension between:
team autonomy (increases flow)
and
lack of competences (decreases flow)

36. 36
in-flow dependencies
based on handovers
out-of-flow dependencies
based on capability gaps

37. 37

38. 38

39. 39

41. “Cognitive load is the total amount
of mental effort being used in the
working memory”
- John Sweller
43

42. 44
Cognitive load
Intrinsic: “How is a class defined in Java?”

43. 45
Cognitive load
Intrinsic (skills)

44. 46
Cognitive load
Intrinsic (skills)
Extraneous: “How do I deploy this app again?”

45. 47
Cognitive load
Intrinsic (skills)
Extraneous (mechanics)
Germane: “How do bank transfers work?”

46. 48
Cognitive load
Intrinsic (skills)
Extraneous (mechanics)
Germane (business focus)

47. 49
Cognitive load
Intrinsic (skills)
Extraneous (mechanics)
Germane (business focus)

48. 50
Cognitive load
Intrinsic (skills)
Extraneous (mechanics)
Germane (business focus)

49. 51
Cognitive load
Intrinsic (skills)
Extraneous (mechanics)
Germane (business focus)

50. “Software that
fits in your head”
- Daniel Terhorst-North
52
https://speakerdeck.com/tastapod/microservices-software-that-fits-in-your-head?slide=62

51. 53
“Software that
fits in our heads”

52. 4 key metrics: ‘Accelerate’
54
lead time
deployment frequency
mean time to restore (MTTR)
change fail percentage

53. 55

55. “A digital platform is a foundation of
self-service APIs, tools, services,
knowledge and support which are
arranged as a compelling internal
product.”
– Evan Bottcher, 2018
57

56. A good platform is
treated as a product
(reliable, usable,
fit for purpose)
58

57. 59

59. 61

60. 62

62. 64

63. 65
Collaboration: 2 teams working together
X-as-a-Service: 1 provides, 1 consumes
Facilitating: 1 team helps another

64. 66

65. 67
When used with care, these are the only
four fundamental team topologies
and three core interaction modes
needed to build and run
modern software systems.

66. 68

67. 69

68. Also important
70
Team-sized software
Avoid Conway mismatches
Organizational sensing
Thinnest Viable Platform (TVP)

69. Nationwide Project to Product: Practical Realities at a Large Scale Enterprise
Adidas Where Cloud Native Meets the Sporting Goods Industry
Barclays The Yin and Yang of Speed and Control
BMW Game Changer: 100% Agile
DevOpsTopologies.com
Mercedes DevOps Adoption at Mercedes-Benz.io
Twilio Platforms at Twilio: Unlocking Developer Effectiveness
MAN Truck & Bus How to Manage Cloud Infrastructure at MAN Truck & Bus
Farfetch UX I DevOps - The Trojan Horse for Implementing a DevOps Culture

70. Team Topologies
72
Organizing business and
technology teams for fast flow
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais
IT Revolution Press
Order via stores worldwide: teamtopologies.com/book

71. Workbook
coming soon...
Team Topologies
for Remote Teams
73
for Remote
Teams
Sign up for news: teamtopologies.com/newsletter
Icon by Pixel perfect from www.flaticon.com

72. Remote-
Friendly
Training
🠊 teamtopologies.com/training
74

73. Remote-Friendly
Assessments
🠊 teamtopologies.com/assessments
75

74. Team Topologies for Project Managers
76
ascent.pmi.org
self-paced 4-hour online course
TT4PM20
20% discount code
Other courses from:
Peter Drucker Institute,
Jeff Gothelf & Josh Seiden,
Patty Azzarello,
and others

75. Resources
77
teamtopologies.com/resources
(links, slides, video)
github.com/teamtopologies
(templates, assessments, etc)

76. Thank you!
78
Matthew Skelton, Conflux
@matthewpskelton
Manuel Pais, Independent
@manupaisable
teamtopologies.com