Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology

Team Topologies argues that the way you group engineers into teams determines how quickly a company can ship software. It defines four fundamental team types-stream-aligned, enabling, complicated-subsystem, and platform-and three interaction modes-collaboration, X-as-a-service, and facilitating-to give leaders a clear vocabulary for designing org structures.

By matching team type to the work it does, leaders can eliminate unnecessary hand-offs and reduce the cognitive load on developers. The book shows how a stream-aligned team that owns an end-to-end product flow can move faster than a matrix of functional groups, while platform teams provide stable, reusable services without becoming bottlenecks.

The authors turn abstract principles into actionable steps: treat each team as an API with clear contracts, use Conway's Law to align architecture with team boundaries, and regularly evolve the topology as product needs change. They also provide patterns for scaling the model in large enterprises, ensuring that communication pathways stay thin and predictable.

For technical leaders, the payoff is concrete. Redesigning teams around these topologies can cut cycle time, lower defect rates, and make it easier to onboard new engineers because responsibilities are well-defined. The book equips you with the mental models and practical tools to re-architect your organization for sustainable, fast flow.