What is Team Topologies? Is it a framework? Is it a set of principles? How can you start using it without having a big-bang, top-down approach? And is that ever the right approach?

Curious about transitioning from project-based work to a Product Operating Model? Our latest newsletter dives into how Team Topologies can help leaders navigate the unique challenges of this shift, especially in complex enterprise environments. We explore why internal platforms need to be treated as products and discuss the complexities of defining product boundaries in ways that empower teams. Discover insights on structuring value streams for multi-team products and building effective 'team-of-teams' architectures.

In a recorded interview from the Acceler8IT Conference in Krakow, Matthew Skelton, co-author of Team Topologies, sat down with Sabine Wojcieszak from getNextIT to discuss the practical and human-centered value of Team Topologies in modern workplaces. Their conversation delves into the potential of this flexible framework, which promotes adaptive team structures, reducing cognitive load, and nurturing a sense of security and fulfillment at work.

In our recent Project to Product Open Forum, we gathered leaders, practitioners, and transformation experts to explore the challenges and opportunities of moving from a project-centric to a product-centric way of working. The conversation couldn’t have been more timely; with only 2% of organizations fully mature in these transformation attempts and with a failure rate of 70% for business transformations, the shift is proving to be more difficult than anticipated for many organizations.

Organizations that adopt a "platform as a product" approach can fundamentally transform and accelerate the value realization from their digital product development. With the move to Product Operating Models, aka Project-to-Product transitions, more and more leaders realize the importance of sound platform engineering strategy and approach.

In the five years since Team Topologies was published, the framework has become a go-to tool for leaders looking to streamline their organizations. The book’s core concepts—stream-aligned teams, managing cognitive load, and clear interaction modes—have been widely adopted across industries, from startups to large enterprises. Case studies show that while the framework provides structure, it's flexible enough to adapt as teams and their needs evolve. Companies have particularly benefited from the emphasis on reducing cognitive load, which has helped improve delivery speed and team efficiency. 

Transitioning from a project-based approach to a product-driven mindset can significantly enhance how organizations deliver value and meet customer expectations. Unlike projects, which have a defined end date, products are continuously evolving and require adaptability to meet changing market needs. That ability for products - and thus teams - to quickly respond and adapt, requires an environment which is supportive of change. Many organizations today are restricted in that area, because of their structure and decision making processes.

Independent Service Heuristics(ISH) are a set of simple questions that help have discussions and design discussions for creating modular, autonomous, and efficient teams within an organization. As Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, the authors of Team Topologies, explain, these heuristics guide the structuring of services to optimize team performance and service maintainability.