What is Team Topologies?
Team Topologies is a framework by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais for organizing engineering teams based on how software flows through the organization.
Team Topologies is a framework by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais for organizing engineering teams based on how software flows through the organization. It defines four fundamental team types and three interaction modes.
Team types: Stream-Aligned (owns end-to-end delivery of a value stream), Platform (provides self-service infrastructure), Enabling (helps teams adopt new capabilities), and Complicated Subsystem (owns domain-specific complex code).
Interaction modes: Collaboration (teams work together closely), X-as-a-Service (one team provides a service to others), and Facilitating (one team coaches another).
The key insight: organization structure directly shapes the software architecture (Conway's Law). If you want microservices, organize teams around services. If you organize around functions (backend team, frontend team), you'll build a monolith regardless of your architecture goals.
Why It Matters
Team Topologies provides a vocabulary for discussing organizational design. It prevents the most common organizational anti-pattern: creating teams that fight against the architecture instead of enabling it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are team topologies?
A framework defining four team types (stream-aligned, platform, enabling, complicated subsystem) and three interaction modes for organizing engineering effectively.
What is Conways Law?
Organizations produce systems that mirror their communication structures. If you want independent microservices, you need independent teams. Team structure = software structure.
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