Research has shown that the similarity of team mental models is a good predictor of team performance, meaning fewer mistakes, more coherent code, and more rapid delivery of outcomes.

Whichever kind of stream of changes a stream-aligned team is aligned to, that team is funded in a long-term, sustainable manner as part of a portfolio or program of work, not as a fleeting project.

Splitting software can reduce the consistency between different parts of the software and can lead to accidental data duplication across multiple subsystems. The

Instead, teams should view themselves as stewards or caretakers as opposed to private owners. Think of code as gardening, not policing.

There is little value in reassigning people to different teams after a six-month project where the team has just begun to perform well. As

By empowering teams, and treating them as fundamental building blocks, individuals inside those teams move closer together to act as a team rather than just a group of people. On the other hand, by explicitly agreeing on interaction modes with other teams, expectations on behaviors become clearer and inter-team trust grows.

A fracture plane is a natural seam in the software system that allows the system to be split easily into two or more parts. This

A stream-aligned team is a team aligned to a single, valuable stream of work; this might be a single product or service, a single set of features, a single user journey, or a single user persona.

Team Topologies provides four fundamental team types—stream-aligned, platform, enabling, and complicated-subsystem—and three core team interaction modes—collaboration, X-as-a-Service, and facilitating. Together with awareness of Conway’s law, team cognitive load, and how to become a sensing organization, Team Topologies results in an effective and