Playing Tetris with Cognitive Load @ Codemotion, May 2024

Do we expect autonomous empowered cross-functional squads to set up their CI/CD tooling and pipelines, automate infra, test and secure all the things, and, of course, run and monitor their product live? Oh wait, there’s more: they need to actually understand who their customers are, what they need from the product, what is causing friction, and what is the viability of our product as a net positive for the organization.

Sounds familiar? Congratulations, you’re already playing Tetris with team cognitive load!

Transcript

1. TeamTopologies.com @TeamTopologies Manuel Pais Playing Tetris with Cognitive Load
2. Team Topologies 3 Organizing business and technology teams for fast flow Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais IT Revolution Press, 2019 teamtopologies.com/book Over 150.000 copies sold
3. cognitive OVERload
4. 56% of IT professionals can't relax after their working day 🤯 7
5. 44% of full-time employees experience burnout 🤯🤯 8
6. “Great [digital] products emerge from empowered, fully cross-functional teams.” – John Cutler, 2019 11
8. 13 Fast flow of value
9. fast flow of value doesn’t mean “feature factory” ⚠
10. 15 Rapid feedback from running systems
11. 16 team mission
12. 31 cognitive loadd
13. Each service must be fully owned by a team with sufficient capacity to design, build, run & evolve it 32
16. Team Cognitive Load
17. Team Cognitive Load Architecture Infrastructure Security
18. coding testing deploying security infrastructure operations CI/CD arch & design
19. coding testing deploying security infrastructure operations CI/CD arch & design building the solution right
20. coding testing deploying security infrastructure operations CI/CD arch & design UX cust satisfaction data science product viability QA
21. coding testing deploying security infrastructure operations CI/CD arch & design UX cust satisfaction biz metrics product viability QA building the right solution
22. UX Data Science Team Cognitive Load
23. Product Viability Design Thinking Experiments Team Cognitive Load
24. cognitive OVERload
26. Team Cognitive Load 53
27. COGNITIVE LOAD: The total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory - John Sweller 54
28. Intrinsic (skills) Extraneous (environment) Germane (domain focus) 59
29. (Intrinsic) ] Extraneous [ Germane 60
30. Taming Cognitive Load 63 Explicit cognitive load
31. 64 Challenge Cognitive load can’t be measured directly
32. 65 Answer Need to assess the drivers of team cognitive load
33. 66 Answer Team Cognitive Load Clusters 1. Team Characteristics
34. 67 Answer Team Cognitive Load Clusters 1. Team Characteristics 2. Work Characteristics
35. 68 Answer Team Cognitive Load Clusters 1. Team Characteristics 2. Work Characteristics 3. Work Practices & Processes
36. 69 Answer Team Cognitive Load Clusters 1. Team Characteristics 2. Work Characteristics 3. Work Practices & Processes 4. Work Environment & Tools
37. Assess cognitive load drivers 70 github.com/TeamTopologies
38. 71 Free for teams teamperature.com
39. 72 Challenge Cognitive load changes continuously
40. 73 Answer Measure continuously and set realistic expectations on cognitive load variation
41. Taming Cognitive Load 74 Explicit cognitive load Team-sized software
42. Limit the size of software services/products to the cognitive load that the team can handle. 75
44. “Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.” – Mel Conway, 1968 77
45. Taming Cognitive Load 82 Explicit cognitive load Team-sized software Adequate team topologies
46. topology the way in which constituent parts are interrelated or arranged Greek: τοπολογία (τόπος == ‘place’) 83
47. 4 fundamental team types 84 Stream-aligned team
49. 87 We expect most teams to be (value) stream-aligned with end-to-end ownership (if we want fast flow)
50. Team Cognitive Load
51. 4 fundamental team types 89 Stream-aligned team Enabling team
52. 90 Enabling teams reduce both the learning curve to acquire capabilities and the need for “shared experts” by having them teach and mentor “on the ground”
53. Case Study 91 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOjdXeGp44E
54. Team Cognitive Load
55. 4 fundamental team types 95 Stream-aligned team Enabling team Platform team
56. 96 Platform teams provide services that reduce cognitive load and accelerate stream-aligned teams to deliver work with substantial autonomy
57. “A digital platform is a foundation of self-service APIs, tools, services, knowledge and support which are arranged as a compelling internal product.” – Evan Bottcher, 2018 99
58. 102 A platform is a curated experience for its customers
59. 112 “Highly evolved firms use a combination of stream-aligned and platform teams as the most effective way to manage cognitive load at scale”
60. Team Cognitive Load
61. 4 fundamental team types 114 Stream-aligned team Enabling team Platform team Complicated subsystem team
62. 115 Complicated subsystem teams build and evolve part of a system which requires specialized, PhD kind of knowledge
63. Team Cognitive Load
64. 4 fundamental team types 117 Flow of change
65. 118 Team Interaction Modes Collaboration: 2 teams working together X-as-a-Service: 1 provides, 1 consumes Facilitating: 1 team helps another
66. 119 Team Interaction Modes Collaboration: 2 teams working together X-as-a-Service: 1 provides, 1 consumes Facilitating: 1 team helps another Why, When, How Long
67. 3 core interaction modes 120 Flow of change X-as-a-Service Facilitating Collaboration
68. Taming Cognitive Load 123 Explicit cognitive load Team-sized software Adequate team topologies
69. 129 Copyright © Team Topologies Ltd 2024. All rights reserved. teamtopologies.com