Team Topologies - Organizing for fast flow of value

View Original

Sheen Brisals - Team Topologies Advocate

Sheen Brisals - Team Topologies Advocate

At my core, I am an engineer. As a business and technology enabler, I bring decades of experience in building distributed systems, adopting modern technologies for faster flow, and growing high-performing, autonomous teams.

Throughout my extensive career, I’ve worked with enterprises of various scales, actively sharing knowledge through writing and public speaking. My current focus lies in cloud technologies, AWS, and serverless architecture. As an AWS Hero, I have the opportunity to reach a global audience, assisting them on their cloud and serverless journeys.

Co-authoring Serverless Development on AWS for O'Reilly Media was a valuable learning experience in communicating technical content effectively to both new learners and seasoned experts. As a passionate writer, I continue to share my insights with global tech communities.

You can reach him via:

Team Topologies Advocacy

I have consistently inspired numerous organizations and teams unfamiliar with Team Topologies to understand its benefits, encouraging them to read and implement these practices. In my previous workplaces, I’ve seen structures inspired by Team Topologies, even when it wasn’t explicitly mentioned.

My approach to working with teams and leaders focuses on helping them understand the fundamentals of building modern applications. This includes introducing them to Domain-Driven Design (DDD), Domain Storytelling, EventStorming, Team Topologies, and other essential practices before addressing the technical aspects of the systems they develop and maintain.

In my book, Serverless Development on AWS, I discuss the FIRST principles of cloud and serverless adoption: Domain-First, Team-First, API-First, and more. As part of the Team-First approach, I reference Team Topologies, highlighting stream-aligned and enabling teams, and dedicate a section to describing enabling teams with reference to Team Topologies.

In several of my talks, I refer to Team Topologies when discussing how to break down complex enterprise problems. I begin with three main patterns: organizational patterns (DDD), team patterns (Team Topologies), and design/architecture patterns (e.g., microservices and event-driven architecture). You can watch my talk here from the 20-minute mark.

I’ve also mentioned Team Topologies in my articles to promote better team structures that drive faster flow and velocity. For instance, I discuss these ideas in my article, The FIRST Principles for a Successful Serverless Adoption.

I firmly believe that smaller, autonomous teams deliver greater value. I combine Team Topologies with other patterns, principles, and practices to provide a holistic, end-to-end serverless development experience. Many teams and organizations have benefited from this content.