Learn how to apply the Team Topologies patterns and approaches within your organization to increase the effectiveness of software delivery through attention to Conway’s Law, team cognitive load, team interactions, the “Team API”, and “lifetime service viability”.
Managers have a key role to play in the modern socio-technical discipline of software delivery at scale. Modern organizations need to cultivate an ecosystem of semi-autonomous teams aligned to the flow of change. Managers can help to define and listen to the interactions between teams to detect gaps in capabilities and misplaced boundaries, thereby avoiding unintended consequences of Conway’s Law (the mirroring effect between team structures and software design). Managers can also help to identify, assess, and reduce cognitive load on teams, improving ownership and flow of change.
What you will learn: the team
FREE PREVIEWWhat really is a team?
FREE PREVIEWDunbar’s Number and trust boundaries
Team-first behaviors and approaches
REFLECTION: teams in your organization currently
FREE PREVIEWEXERCISE: Team API
How managers can help make the team the means of delivery
FREE PREVIEWWhat you will learn: flow and feedback
The four Accelerate metrics
Optimize for flow and feedback using team design
What is a Stream-aligned team?
Principles and behaviors for a Stream-aligned team
REFLECTION: what does your organization optimize for currently?
EXERCISE: Team dependency tracking
How managers can help optimize for flow and feedback
What you will learn: Conway’s Law
Conway’s Law - overview
The evidence for Conway’s Law
Implications of Conway’s Law
How managers and HR can accidentally drive system architecture
The Reverse Conway maneuver
Office seating layouts with Conway’s Law in mind
REFLECTION: how well does your organization currently account for Conway’s Law?
EXERCISE: Office seating layouts
How managers can help with Conway’s Law
What you will learn: team cognitive load
What is cognitive load?
What is team cognitive load?
How can we reduce extraneous cognitive load?
Avoid naive versions of “reduce cognitive load”
The four fundamental team types
REFLECTION: team types in your organization currently
How managers can help reduce team cognitive load
What you will learn: platform teams
What is a modern platform?
What makes a modern platform work?
What teams are inside a platform?
How should platform teams behave?
New skills needed for modern platforms
REFLECTION: how well defined are the modern platforms within your organization?
EXERCISE: Thin Platform wiki page
How managers can help make effective platforms
What you will learn: enabling teams
What is an Enabling team?
When can an Enabling team be effective?
Enabling team activity as Boundary Spanning
REFLECTION: what opportunities are there for Enabling teams within your organization?
How managers can help encourage effective Enabling teams
What you will learn: service ownership
Why feature delivery is not enough
Towards “lifetime service viability”
Extending “service” outside of software
REFLECTION: who owns the full service experience inside your organization?
How managers can help encourage effective service ownership
What else is needed to make this work?
What have we covered?
Self check your understanding of Team Topologies.
Team Topologies for Managers - Course Feedback
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