Bounded Contexts for Team Organization

Since Conway's Law was discovered in the sixties, we know that the organisation structure and the system design it produces are closely linked. Bounded Contexts can help us create better team autonomy, resulting in more effective software designs.

Let's explore how the coordination cost doesn't scale, introduce the concept of work bandwidth and how it informs the clustering, and contrast that to the traditional ideas of component team vs. feature teams.

Transcript

1. @cyriux Cyrille Martraire Bounded Contexts for team organisation
2. Nick Tune
3. He usually talks about the socio-technical
4. I’m his Stunt Double
5. Don’t worry
6. I know socio-technical
7. I used to be a DJ
8. cyrille martraire PARIS Since 1999 @cyriux Cyrille Martraire
9. arolla.fr @arollafr crafting architecture
10. Transformations
11. @cyriux
12. so what about this socio-technical stuff?
13. code is the easy part, collaboration is the hard part - Indu.
14. imagine.
15. what if we didn’t bother organising teams?
16. @cyriux Photo by Dimitar Belchev Just people together
17. @cyriux Photo by Dimitar Belchev Please collaborate!
18. What does it mean to collaborate?
19. discussing & agreeing on: goals solutions words & their meaning ways to collaborate better where to go out for lunch…
20. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
21. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
22. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover coordination cost
23. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
24. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
25. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
26. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
27. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
28. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
29. @cyriux lots of talking!
30. @cyriux meetings!
31. @cyriux miscommunication!
32. @cyriux frustration
33. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick
34. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick runtime & co-evolution
35. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick
36. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick
37. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick
38. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick
39. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick
40. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick LATENCY!
41. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick DOWNTIME!
42. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick BIG BANG DEPLOYMENTS!
43. so what do we do?
44. we want to reduce the coordination cost
45. we create smaller groups of people
46. tribes.
47. @cyriux the obligatory reference to Spotify
48. tribes.
49. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover members know each other
50. tribes. <100 - 150 people ”Dunbar number” max size of tribes
51. @cyriux
52. @cyriux for all primates like us
53. we create smaller groups of people
54. teams.
55. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover members know each other
56. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover they also know what each other thinks about any other
57. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover trust! speed!
58. @cyriux “There is a high cost associated with work that leaves your team” — James Lewis, Thoughtworks
59. @cyriux
60. teams. <5-9 people ”2-pizza team”
61. teams. <5-9 people ”2-pizza team” max size of teams
62. tribes. teams. <5-9 people <100 - 150 people ”2-pizza team” ”Dunbar number” max size
63. Max size of teams / tribes: you just can’t beat that
64. who deserves to be in?
65. anyone who can make a difference in the outcome
66. @cyriux Photo by Hemant Latawa
67. (3+ amigos) dev product testing UX ops …
68. only the 5-9 MOST differentiating contributors IN the team
69. whole teams cross-functional teams
70. anyone else? outside the team!
71. anyone else? outside the team! Other team Support group External
72. ok.
73. ok. no controversy so far.
74. @cyriux
75. whole teams cross-functional teams
76. so beyond the skills, how do we organise teams?
77. @cyriux @cyriux the answer to any question is always…
78. BOUNDED Contexts
79. @cyriux @cyriux ”it depends”
80. BOUNDED Contexts
81. @cyriux “There is a high cost associated with work that leaves your team” — James Lewis, Thoughtworks
82. @cyriux
83. we want to encapsulate the work within the team
84. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover work bandwidth
85. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover work bandwidth
86. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
87. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
88. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
89. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
90. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick runtime bandwidth
91. @cyriux Photo by Taylor Vick ”chatty” communication
92. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover better clusters
93. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover better clusters
94. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover better clusters
95. keep the bandwidth inside
96. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover better clusters
97. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover Bounded Contexts
98. BOUNDED Contexts
99. BOUNDED Contexts
100. BOUNDED Contexts
102. in isolation
103. keep the work inside
104. keep the work inside full
105. @cyriux Photo by Ethan Hoover
106. heuristics: Bounded Contexts by business sub-domains
107. heuristics: Bounded Contexts by business sub-domains area of purpose areas of expertise
108. DESIGN DECISION BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
109. @cyriux Event Storming PRACTICE
110. @cyriux e-commerce • SEO, Traffic Acquisition • Marketing & Targeting • PIM (Product Identification Management) • Catalogue • Categorization • Search • Recommendation • Pricing, Promotions • Basket • Discount, Loyalties • Shipping Cost Estimation • Payment • (Fraud Detection) • Order Management • Billing • Stock / Overbooking • Shipping • Return • CRM
111. heuristics: Bounded Contexts by audience experience crafting the optimal experience by persona
112. heuristics: Bounded Contexts by domain-agnostic (generic) stuff areas of expertise (for someone else)
113. Mapping the Potential Bounded Contexts Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable
114. Mapping the Potential Bounded Contexts Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable by audience
115. Mapping the Potential Bounded Contexts Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable by sub-domains
116. Mapping the Potential Bounded Contexts Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable generic sub-domains
117. Mapping the Potential Bounded Contexts Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable can delegate / SaaS / offshore
118. Need fewer people! Downscale! #WIN
119. Mapping the Potential Bounded Contexts Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable you never quite achieve that perfection
120. Mapping the Target Architecture Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable SpringBoot Postgres / Elastic Search RabbitMQ Microservice
121. Mapping the Target Architecture Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable Modular Monolith
122. Mapping the Potential Bounded Contexts Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable legacy components not aligned (at all)
123. Mapping the Potential Bounded Contexts Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X1 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4 Very specific Generic Specific audience Domain- Specific Domain- Agnostic Volatile Stable you never quite achieve that perfection c’est la vie!
124. how did we do before Bounded Contexts ?
125. Traditionally…
126. @cyriux
127. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature
128. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature Component team
129. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature Feature team
130. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature Component teams X X X Cross-Component coordination to deliver a feature :(
131. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature Feature team X X X System owners to protect integrity of components :(
132. @cyriux Feature teams are better!
133. @cyriux http://www.bebetterleader.com/know-how/how-do-i-form-teams.html Feature teams are better!
134. but components & features are not independent…
135. @cyriux https://www.adapttransformation.com/devops-journey/foundations/conways-law/
136. Any organization that designs a system (…) will inevitably produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure ~ Mel Conway
137. If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler.
138. @cyriux https://www.adapttransformation.com/devops-journey/foundations/conways-law/
139. Conway’s Law: you can’t beat that.
140. design components boundaries on feature boundaries
141. BOUNDED Contexts
142. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature Component team
143. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature Feature team
144. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature Component teams X X X Feature teams
145. @cyriux @cyriux domain boundaries ≡ component boundaries
146. product oriented
147. Smarter Components Boundaries Sub-Domain A sub-sub domain A1 sub-sub domain B1 sub-sub domain C1 Domain Sub-Domain B Sub-Domain C sub-sub domain A2 sub-sub domain C2 Customers Experience X2 Customers Experience X3 Generic enabler Audience Experiences Business (Sub)- Domains Domain- agnostic Enablers Collaborators Experience X4
148. That’s what they did at Spotify indeed!
149. @cyriux ”Numerous autonomous squads that function as independent mini-startups”
150. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature You never quite achieve that perfection X X X
151. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature you will still have some cross-component/team coordination X X X X
152. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature some is acceptable X X X X
153. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature X X X X c’est la vie!
154. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature X X a contract!
155. @cyriux Component Component Component Feature Feature Feature X X a contract! stable!
156. @cyriux Know your decoupling patterns! All the avoidable coupling must be avoided!
157. @cyriux • Depend on a third-party contract • Tunnelling a payload
 Generic (e.g. key-value) • Expose your published language other can call • Micro-frontends • GraphQL
158. @cyriux https://martinfowler.com/articles/data-monolith-to-mesh.html Zhamak Dehghani Data mesh
159. in Closing
160. @cyriux BUY MY BOOK!
161. @cyriux https://medium.com/nick-tune-tech-strategy-blog/the-challenges-and-traps-of- architecting-sociotechnical-systems-94272a7c790f
162. socio-technical is about teams
163. and about components
164. which are both about Bounded Contexts
165. Take care of your Bounded Contexts
166. And the Bounded Contexts will take care of yourself.
167. Thanks! Cyrille MARTRAIRE @cyriux
168. @cyriux