SmHarter insights Blog | Team Topologies Vs Feature Teams
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Team Topologies vs Feature Teams: A Balanced Approach | Luca Minudel posted on the topic | LinkedIn
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More on Team Topologies Vs Feature Teams
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In large enough tech organisations, it's common for software sharing and reuse to employ both approaches across different parts of the codebase:
a) ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ-๐๐ผ๐
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ: Software is consumed as a closed system (e.g., commercial or internal binaries, or via IaaS/SaaS). ๐ข๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ in this case remains ๐ฒ๐
๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ to the providing team (a la Team Topologies) or external company.
b) ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ: Software is shared as internal or external source code. ๐ข๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ to some degree, granting users rights like autonomously making direct code changes (a la Feature Teams), autonomously forking, or at least posting a Pull Request.
Should a successful organisation or a competent professional exclusively devote themselves to one approach (Team Topologies or Feature Teams) over the other? Why? =>
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The 2008 ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐ paper and book detailed a valuable socio-technical software development practice, which was later packaged into marketing and sales materials for the LeSS framework.
Similarly, the 2019 ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ผ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐ถ๐ฒ๐ book also described a highly effective socio-technical development practice. This practice, too, later evolved into a distinct brand used for non-profit and commercial offerings, marketing, and sales (TTs maintains a stance against certification exploitation).
Many professionals have become affiliated with one offering or the other, leading to a polarisation where the two practices are often treated as ๐บ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐.
Instead of maintaining this split, shouldn't we shift the conversation back to the core ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต/๐๐ผ๐ณ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป? Shouldn't we:
1. Explore and understand the ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ of both practices,
2. Identify the ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐
๐๐ where each fits best,
3. Find practical ways to ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ both approaches?
#TEAMTOPOLOGIES #FEATURETEAMS #LeSS
#SoftwareEngineering #ProductDevelopment #SocioTechPractices