Remote-first work is the ” new normal ” for around the world. There is no shortage of advice on how individual teams can bond and work effectively remotely. However, there is not much on how to address remote interactions between different teams that need to collaborate remotely, as part of the same value stream. Moving from the physical to the online world can further expose pre-existing interaction problems, increase wait times and slow down delivery and possibly response to incidents. Based on the ideas from Team Topologies, Manuel Pais presents some useful approaches that clarify and evolve inter-team interactions and communication in this remote-first world. Designing "Team APIs" and virtual communication channels that promote relevant team interactions while minimizing communication overhead helps organizations keep a fast flow of delivery. Following well-defined interaction patterns and architecting for team-first software boundaries will also help reduce communication overhead, clarify expectations on teams, and increase visibility of on-going work and support.

1. TeamTopologies.com
@TeamTopologies
Manuel Pais
co-author of Team Topologies
Agile Arizona, 21 May 2020
Remote-First
Team Interactions
with Team Topologies

2. Who am I ?
2
Independent IT organizational consultant and trainer
Ex-dev, ex-build manager, ex-tester, ex-QA lead
LinkedIn instructor on Continuous Delivery
Co-author of the book Team Topologies

3. Remote Work ?
+
3

4. 4
https://tomgeraghty.co.uk/index.php/psycholo
gical-safety-in-distributed-and-remote-teams/

5. Remote Work
tools
+ psychological safety
+ ground rules and practices
5

6. 6
Poor remote interactions
can kill the
“<LATEST> transformation”.

7. Team Topologies
8
Organizing business and
technology teams for fast flow
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais
IT Revolution Press (Sep 2019)
Order via stores worldwide: teamtopologies.com/book

8. 9
Team Dependencies
Setting Team Boundaries
Purposeful Interactions
Growing Feedback

9. Team Dependencies
10

10. 11
In a remote-first context,
it’s vital to understand
who is working on what

11. Team API
12

12. “For effective team-first ownership
of software, teams need to
continuously define, advertise, test,
and evolve their Team API”
Team Topologies, p.48
13

13. Team API
14
● Artifacts owned by the team
● Versioning & testing approach
● Wiki and documentation
● Practices and principles
● Roadmap & priorities
● Communication preferences (when/how)

14. Team API
15
● Artifacts owned by the team
● Versioning & testing approach
● Wiki and documentation
● Practices and principles
● Roadmap & priorities
● Communication preferences (when/how)

15. 16
https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Team-API-template

16. Tracking Dependencies
17

17. Team dependencies tracking
18
https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Team-Dependencies-Tracking

18. “Making Work Visible”
19

19. 20
Eliminate blocking dependencies.
Mitigate slow dependencies.
Keep healthy dependencies.

20. Building Networks
21

21. 22

22. 23

23. Setting Team
Boundaries
25

24. Group Trust Levels
26

25. “an individual’s social network
(meaningful relationships)
is typically in the order of
100–200 individuals”
- Robin Dunbar
27
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.150292

26. 28

27. 29

28. 30
Trust dynamics can change
when crossing a Dunbar
boundary. Expect different
rules & non-linear effects.

29. 31
Private car salesCommercial car sales
Car leasing
[example]From Team Topologies,
chapter 3 (page 53)

30. 32

31. 33

32. 34
Private car sales
Commercial car sales
Car leasing

33. 35
# enabling-test-automation
...
# platform-team
…
# stream-team-1
# stream-team-2
# stream-team-3
...
# st1-platform-monitoring
# st2-enabling-test-automation
...
Mary (Platform
Team Engineer)
# support-environments
# support-logging
…
# marketing
# sales
...

34. 36

35. Team-focused conventions
37
● team channel: team topology and name
● (temp) interaction channel: teams + purpose
● support channel: support + service name
● username: name + role + team + topology

36. 38
Team-focused conventions
increase discoverability
and reduce cognitive load
on communications.

37. Purposeful
Interactions
39

38. Infinite Collaboration
(Myth Busting)
40

39. 41
We cannot and should not
expect to talk to everyone
else (person or team)

40. 42
Well-defined interactions
are key to effective teams

41. 43
Team Interaction Modes
Collaboration: 2 teams working together
X-as-a-Service: 1 provides, 1 consumes
Facilitating: 1 team helps another

42. 44

43. 45
https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Team-API-template

44. Stream-aligned team 1
46
Teams we currently interact with:
Team Name Interaction Mode Purpose Duration
Test Automation
Enabling team
Facilitating Understand test
automation and
data mgmt
examples for iOS
3 weeks
(from Apr 13
to Apr 30,
2h per day)
Face Recognition
Complicated
subsystem team
Collaboration Define response
errors and
workflow for poor
contrast photos
2 months
(from Mar 30
to May 29,
1 day per week)

45. Use awkwardness in team
interactions as a sensing
mechanism for evolution
47

46. Org Chart as
Communication Path
(Myth Busting)
48

47. 49
Org Chart
vs
Reality

48. 50
The Org Chart Problem
Source: “Team of Teams”, McChrystal, 2015

49. let real needs drive the
interactions between teams,
not formal processes
or org chart decisions
52

50. 53

51. Clarify Communication
Purpose & Channels
54

52. 55
https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Thin-Platform-template

53. 56
https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Thin-Platform-template

54. 57
https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Thin-Platform-template

55. Growing Feedback
58

56. 59

57. 60
https://www.infoq.com/presentations/twilio-devops/

58. 61

59. Team Topologies
62
Organizing business and
technology teams for fast flow
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais
IT Revolution Press
Order via stores worldwide: teamtopologies.com/book

60. Workbook
coming soon...
Team Topologies
for Remote Teams
63
for Remote
Teams
Sign up for news: teamtopologies.com/newsletter
Icon by Pixel perfect from www.flaticon.com

61. Remote-
Friendly
Training
🠊 teamtopologies.com/training
64

62. Remote-Friendly
Assessments
🠊 teamtopologies.com/assessments
65

63. Team Topologies for Project Managers
66
ascent.pmi.org
self-paced 4-hour online course
TT4PM20
20% discount code
Other courses from:
Peter Drucker, Jeff
Gothelf & Josh Seiden,
Patty Azzarello, and
others

64. Free Resources
67
Remote-first interactions
teamtopologies.com/remote-first
Free tools & templates
github.com/teamtopologies

65. Thank you!
68
Matthew Skelton, Conflux
@matthewpskelton
Manuel Pais, Independent
@manupaisable
teamtopologies.com