Team Topologies

Four team types, three interaction modes, and a serious treatment of cognitive load as a design constraint rather than a complaint. The platform team chapter is the one I return to.

The idea I took

A platform should be a product with a deliberately narrow surface, and the test is whether a stream aligned team can use it without talking to you. That single test settles most arguments about whether the platform should absorb one more responsibility. If absorbing it means every consumer now needs a conversation, it belongs outside the line.

Where it stops

The diagrams are cleaner than any organisation I have worked in. Real teams sit in several categories at once, and move between them without telling anyone.