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[OA.STD.1] Organize teams into distinct topology types to optimize the value stream - DevOps Guidance

[OA.STD.1] Organize teams into distinct topology types to optimize the value stream

PDFRSS

Category: FOUNDATIONAL

To optimize the value stream and achieve desired business outcomes, embrace the four team topologies model, as outlined in Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais. Assess each team and categorize them into one of the four topologies, aligning them with the overall value stream and creating clear purpose and goals. Organizing teams according to these topologies allows organizations to manage dependencies, enhance collaboration, and facilitate effective value delivery.

The four team topologies are:

  • Stream-aligned teams are responsible for delivering value to customers by focusing on specific product lines or customer segments. These teams possess cross-functional expertise that enables them to build, test, and deploy software independently, while minimizing dependencies and handoffs with other teams. They are the primary teams within the organization, normally representing 60–80% of the total teams within an organization.

  • Platform teams create and maintain shared infrastructure, tools, and services that support multiple stream-aligned teams across the organization. They produce reusable components, improve efficiency, reduce duplication of work, and overall reduce the amount of individual team effort. As these teams support many teams within the organization, they make up a smaller portion of the organization, usually between 10-20%.

  • Teams support other teams by providing just-in-time skills, knowledge, and expertise. They help other teams overcome technical challenges, adopt best practices, and improve their capabilities. All assistance provided by enabling teams is meant to be temporary, as they strive to make other teams self-sufficient through facilitation and mentoring. The percentage of enabling teams is fewer than platform and stream-aligned, often ranging between 5-15% of the overall organization.

  • Complicated subsystem teams are teams responsible for specialized subsystems within a larger system that require complex, deep domain knowledge and expertise. These subsystems are typically part of the core business logic or functionality of a single product or application. Their primary consumers are internal components within that system. Distinguishing between platform teams and complicated subsystem teams may not always be clear-cut, and a team could have characteristics of both types. When a team is providing a foundational service to multiple teams, they are usually considered platform teams. If they support a single product or application, it is generally considered a complicated subsystem team. Typically, there are fewer complicated subsystem teams than other team types, making up 0–10% of the distribution.

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