Leveraging Team Topologies for Organization and Software Evolution

Abstract

Increase the flow of delivery with effective software design and team interactions Have you ever faced roadblocks in software development stemming from disjointed team structures or interactions? You’re not alone. Misalignment between software and the domain, siloed teams focusing on random tasks, or processes dictating software architecture often end up in rigid software that is not coherent with evolving environment and requirements. Enter Team Topologies, a pattern language, and a set of principles and practices to ensure a steady flow of value while respecting human-centric aspects like trust boundaries and cognitive load. This perspective poses a burning question: What if we change how teams interact with each other and leverage these interactions to evolve the organization and the software? What would such a world look like?

The software we produce quickly changes the user’s needs, which has a ripple effect on the software itself. Requirements change, and people want different things. This is good; people are engaged, and the software’s value is sound. But there’s a caveat: how the teams inside the organization interact can be an enabler or blocker to evolving the software services and the organization itself. You probably have experience with how the friction between different people and teams inside a company didn’t yield the desirable results. This session focuses on a different angle. What if we take how teams interact and leverage our native humane capabilities, such as trust and empathy, around a common goal?

Rather than starting from the technical angle, we start from the social and humane angle. With this in mind, we use Team Topologies principles and practices. We design how teams can interact with each other and how to have a sensible software architecture that enables a fast flow of value toward the users. You will work in smaller groups around a fiction company example based on real-life use cases. The session provides a space to safely experiment with different options and reflect on the tradeoffs and implications. There is a strong emphasis on the practical side of things, with short theory blocks to give you the foundation for the exercises. At the end of the workshop, you can apply the principles and practices to your context, improving the flow and business outcomes.

Agenda

25 minutes – Fast-flow and Team Topologies principles
30 minutes – First Team Interactions Modeling round
15 minutes – Show and tell to the other groups
30 minutes – Second Team Interactions Modeling round
15 minutes – Show and tell to the other groups
35 minutes – Self-reflection and Q&A