Team Topologies

Organizing Business and Technology Teams

People & Culture | Technical Operations Excellence

4
Team Types
3
Interaction Modes
5-9
Ideal Team Size
1968
Conway's Law

4 Fundamental Team Types

Stream-Aligned Team

Aligned to a single stream of work (product, feature, service)

Platform Team

Provides internal services to reduce cognitive load

Enabling Team

Helps stream-aligned teams adopt new capabilities

Complicated-Subsystem Team

Deep expertise for complex components

3 Interaction Modes

ModeWhen to Use
CollaborationDiscovery, rapid innovation
X-as-a-ServiceClear API, reduce cognitive load
FacilitatingCoaching, capability building

Warning: Collaboration is expensive; use sparingly

Conway's Law

Organizations design systems that mirror their own communication structure.

- Melvin Conway, 1968

Inverse Conway Maneuver: Design teams to get the architecture you want

Cognitive Load Types

TypeDefinition
IntrinsicInherent problem complexity
ExtraneousEnvironmental/tooling noise
GermaneValuable learning investment

Team Type Distribution

TypeTypical Ratio
Stream-Aligned60-80%
Platform10-15%
Enabling5-10%
Complicated-Subsystem0-5%

Stream-aligned should always be the majority

Platform Team Principles

  • Self-service: Teams can provision without tickets
  • Paved roads: Easy path for 80% use cases
  • Optional: Not mandated, but compelling
  • Thin interface: Hide complexity behind APIs
  • Product mindset: Treat teams as customers

SRE Team Models

ModelTopology
Centralized SREEnabling + Platform hybrid
Embedded SREPart of Stream-Aligned
HybridCore platform + consulting

Dunbar's Number

GroupSize
Close team5-9 people
Trust group15 people
Clan/tribe50 people
Max relationships150 people

Teams Over Individuals

Minimize cognitive load, maximize flow.