The fast flow organization - using Team Topologies outside of IT and software - Matthew Skelton - Conflux

Keynote delivered at RebelCon 2023 - https://rebelcon.io

Description

Since the book Team Topologies was published in 2019, it has gained widespread adoption within the software/IT sector as the “go-to” reference for organizing business and technology teams for fast flow. Organizations of all sizes have found that the language, patterns, practices, ideas, and deliberate constraints of Team Topologies (TT) has helped them to move to a more humane, flow-oriented approach to building and running software-enriched services.

But can industry sectors outside software and IT also benefit from TT ideas and practices?

In this talk, Matthew Skelton (co-author of the TT book) explores how organizations in many sectors have begun to use the TT patterns to help with team-based knowledge work of all kinds. We explore the use of TT in sectors including: legal services, accountancy, clinical care in hospitals, COVID-19 emergency response, sales and marketing, HR/People, higher education, venue services (audio-visual equipment).

New tools such as TeamOS and TeamForm are also emerging in the market that explicitly use the TT principles to help organizations design and evolve the teams and dynamics for fast flow.

In effect, the core software engineering principles underlying Team Topologies - including Team API, decoupling, service boundaries, team interaction modes, Conway’s Law, organizational sensing, etc. - are being applied and tested in novel knowledge-work contexts. This presents a tremendous opportunity for people with software engineering awareness to help shape the future dynamics of digital-savvy organizations.

The talk closes by looking at some key principles around an operating model for fast flow organizations. Join the Team Topologies (r)evolution! 🤓

Audience: C-level and Exec teams, organization design practitioners, managers, plus people involved in the design, delivery, and operation of business-critical software systems.

Key take-aways: the ideas and patterns in Team Topologies (TT) are being applied worldwide not just in software/IT but increasing in non-IT contexts like legal services, healthcare, education, and HR. These applications of TT point the way to an operating model for fast flow organizations.

Length: 30-40 mins

Talk ref: K24

https://confluxhq.com/fast-flow

Transcript

1. The fast flow organization - using Team Topologies outside of IT and software Matthew Skelton, Conflux - co-author of Team Topologies RebelCon, Cork, IE | 25 April 2023
2. Photo goes here Matthew Skelton Founder at Conflux Co-author of Team Topologies LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matthewskelton Mastodon: mastodon.social/@matthewskelton 2
3. Team Topologies Organizing business and technology teams for fast flow Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais IT Revolution Press, September 2019 Order via stores worldwide: teamtopologies.com/book 3
5. Team Topologies is the leading approach to organizing business and technology teams for fast flow, providing a practical, step-by‑step, adaptive model for organizational design and team interaction. 5
7. What I have learned about TT Team Topologies outside of IT What is going on?! Applying this back to software/IT 7
8. What I have learned about Team Topologies since publication in 2019 8
9. Team Topologies is way more disruptive and useful than we ever imagined … but 🤷 #sorrynotsorry 9
10. Team Topologies provides several things for organizations… 10
11. 11 Language for dealing with flow, boundaries, architecture, dynamics
12. 12 Heuristics (clues) for organizing teams and software
13. 13 Ways for teams to define expectations + close gaps
14. 14 A focus on fast flow as a key driver
15. 15 Deliberate constraints on behaviors
16. 16 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/matthewskelton_tea mtopologies-activity-7009449368537726976-biXt “Team Topologies is … a set of constraints to encourage emergent behaviours.”
17. [quick overview] 17
18. 18 Stream-aligned team ➔ Long-lived ➔ End-to-end care and evolution of the service ➔ No hand-offs to other teams ➔ Mix of skills (“cross-functional”) ➔ Small: around 8 people
19. 19 Stream-aligned team ➔ Long-lived ➔ End-to-end care and evolution of the service ➔ No hand-offs to other teams ➔ Mix of skills (“cross-functional”) ➔ Small: around 8 people Flow of change
20. 20 Platform grouping
22. 22 Flow of change
23. 23 Cash Concept Flow of change
24. 24 User Need Flow of change
25. 25 Live service Version control Flow of change
26. 26 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team
27. 27 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team 😢
28. 28 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team 😐 Facilitating Enabling team
29. 29 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team 😊 Facilitating Enabling team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS
30. Platform grouping 30 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Collaboration UX
31. Platform grouping 31 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Stream-aligned team xN
32. Platform grouping 32 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Collaboration Stream-aligned team xN ⚠ Team Topologies diagrams are always just “snapshots in time”, never fixed designs
34. flow-centric roles 34
35. Almost all decisions need to use the twin ‘lenses’ of fast flow and team cognitive load 35
36. Team Topologies indicates: Almost ALL roles and teams should be focused on either: 🔀 A flow of change -or- 👐 Supporting flow(s) of change 36
37. 🔀 A flow of change: • Software changes to a service/app • Config changes to COTS software • Onboarding a new employee • Reviewing legal contracts • Installing A/V equipment 37
38. 👐 Supporting flow(s) of change: • An infrastructure platform for cloud services/apps • A data platform for analytics • A wiki or How-To guide • Real-time data for decision-making 38
39. 39 Continuously ‘untangle’ business concepts
40. 40 Find and adjust team & system boundaries for flow
41. 41 Minimize hand-offs
42. 42 Avoid blocking dependencies
43. 43 Move some decision-making to teams
44. 44 Team Topologies exposes any lack of clarity in purpose, conflict in priorities, or misalignment of incentives
45. Team Topologies outside of IT 45
46. Organizations outside IT and software are already using TT 46
47. 47 https://mobile.twitter.com/amcunningham/status/1517912010599682052 “Let's bring Team Topologies to the whole of the [National Health Service]!”
48. 48 “the concepts discussed in the book are very much applicable to other working environments and teams [outside software]” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/team-topologies-matthew-skelton-manuel-pais-tara-hopkins/ “Certain activities needed to be provided as a service that employees could easily access and get a quick and accurate result from. On other occasions we worked with a manager in a facilitative way, helping that manager to become better able to manage a situation in the team. In other situations we worked collaboratively with another team to pool resources and problem solve together, coming up with a better solution than either team would have arrived at on their own.”
49. Legal services 49
50. 50 Challenges for legal services Real-world cases span legal specialisms Fee earner lawyer prevents team ownership Per-hour billing encourages busy work Law-as-a-service?
51. 51 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Client A Individual vs Company
52. 52 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team 😊 Facilitating Enabling team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS Cross-border M&A “Fee-earner”
53. Platform grouping 53 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Collaboration M&A info managed as part of a flow platform Make the XaaS interaction more useful
54. Platform grouping 54 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Stream-aligned team xN Teams making supporting workflows and checklists, etc.
55. [Accountancy] 55
56. Clinical care / healthcare 56
57. 57 Challenges for clinical care Real-world cases span medical specialisms > Pregnant car accident victim with COVID-19 Consistent care over time without handoffs Managing team cognitive load
58. 58 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team COVID-19 complications Malnourished
59. 59 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team 😊 Facilitating Enabling team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS X-ray or MRI scan Consultant surgeon
60. Platform grouping 60 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Collaboration Make the XaaS interaction more useful X-ray or MRI scan managed as part of a flow platform
61. Platform grouping 61 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Stream-aligned team xN Teams making supporting workflows and checklists, etc. X-ray or MRI scan itself may have “inner” teams
62. Case Study NHS Digital - pandemic response software teams working with international healthcare experts used Team Topologies principles for rapid rollout of COVID-19 testing 62 https://axiologik.com/news-and-insights/delivering-digital-services-at-scale-in-a-crisis
63. News and media 63
64. 64 Challenges for news and media Changing consumption of news and media > TikTok, ChatGPT, AI/ML Remove editors from publication critical path Rapidly offer new digital products & tech
65. Platform grouping 65 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS Facilitating Enabling team Editors help to build capability in publication teams Editorial Editors help to define auto- approval systems
66. Platform grouping 66 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Collaboration Shape the content boundaries a data structures Content platform provides composable media consumable by … Product …an ecosystem of digital products
67. Education curriculum design 67
68. 68 Challenges for education design Technology changing the relevance of ideas > ChatGPT for essay questions Long cycles (course description as ‘contract’) Avoid ‘big batch’ validation by committee
69. Platform grouping 69 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team Complicated Subsystem team XaaS XaaS Collaboration Discuss ruleset for auto- approval Chemistry Computer ethics
70. HR/People 70
71. 71 Challenges for HR / people mgt Rigidity in people placement prevents agility > 7 months to move someone to new dept Individual bonuses work against teamwork Conway’s Law
72. Platform grouping 72 Flow of change Stream-aligned team Stream-aligned team XaaS HR as a platform with internal “customers” Onboarding Move department XaaS XaaS
73. Venue services (e.g. audiovisual equipment) 73
74. 74 Challenges for venue services Rapid deployment at scale Courtrooms, music venues Testing and validation
75. The team-based operating system 75
76. 76 TeamForm teamform.co
77. 77 TeamOS teamos.is Disclosure: Matthew Skelton has invested personally in the company behind TeamOS
79. WTF is going on?! 79
80. 80 Time for some reverse engineering!
81. 81 legal services clinical care / healthcare news & media accounting education design HR/people OS ?
82. knowledge work 82
83. language 83
84. interactions 84
85. ownership 85
86. boundaries 86
87. cognitive load 87
88. flow 88
89. 89 language interactions boundaries ownership cognitive load flow
90. Hypothesis: Team Topologies provides vital language, patterns, and constraints for almost all knowledge work situations in the context of fast flow and team ownership. 90
91. Applying these principles and ideas back to software/IT 91
92. Almost all decisions need to use the twin ‘lenses’ of fast flow and team cognitive load 92
93. 🧠 Compliance mindset shift: “Permitting” to “Empowering”
95. 🧠 Platform mindset shift: “We run it” to “We help flow”
97. 🧠 Architect mindset shift: “Designing” to “Finding flow”
99. 🧠 Expert mindset shift: “Validating” to “Enabling flow”
101. 🧠 Developer mindset shift: “My area” to “No hand-offs”
103. 🧠 Manager mindset shift: Coordinating to Flow-enabling or Flow-unblocking
105. 🧠 Business mindset shift: Project to Product (or long-lived services)
107. Team Topologies indicates: Almost ALL roles and teams should be focused on either: 🔀 A flow of change -or- 👐 Supporting flow(s) of change 107
108. What I have learned about TT Team Topologies outside of IT What is going on?! Applying this back to software/IT 108
109. Almost all decisions need to use the twin ‘lenses’ of fast flow and team cognitive load 109
110. Hypothesis: Team Topologies provides vital language, patterns, and constraints for almost all knowledge work situations in the context of fast flow and team ownership. 110
111. 111 Masterclass: Success patterns for fast flow and Team Topologies In association with: Expert-led group learning online with co-author of Team Topologies, Matthew Skelton 21 & 22 June 2023, 13:30-16:30 GMT+1 (2x 3-hours)
112. 112 What’s your perspective? Which aspects resonate? Which things feel incorrect?
113. 113 expert-led group learning for adopting fast flow and Team Topologies confluxhq.com
114. thank you confluxhq.com Copyright (c) 2017-2023 Conflux group of companies. All Rights Reserved. The name “Conflux” and the filled C device are Registered Trademarks ® in multiple jurisdictions.