Team Structure and Topologies
General Guides
| References |
|---|
| Team Topologies / Key Concepts |
| Team Structure |
| Should You Structure Your Product Team Like Amazon, Spotify, or Something Else Entirely? |
| Lateral design - We are better together |
Organizing by Context
| Context | |
|---|---|
| by Persona
|
For an Oline Used Car Store, we could organize by Buyer, Seller, Salesperson, Field Team, and so on…
For an Online Apartment Rental Broker, we could organize by Buyer, Owner/Landlord, Broker Partner, Inspection Person, Inspection Supervisor, and so on… |
| by Journey
|
For an Oline Used Car Store, we could organize by Car Sell Experience, Car Purchase Esperience, Car Repair Experience and so on…
For an Online Apartment Rental Broker, we could organize by Rental Experience, Apartment Stock Refil Experience, and so on… |
| by Feature | In bigger companies we could have a teams focused in the Search Engine, Recommendation Engine, Checkout, and so on |
| by Objective | For exemple Sell more, Purchase better, Increate Time-to-available (time between purchase and make it available for purchasing), Data Analytics (provide data availability to all stakeholders) and so on… |
We can also mix differente types of Context and have for an Online Used Car Store teams for: Buyer Persona, Seller Persona, Cair Repair Experience, Data Analytics and with time breakdown for example Buyer Persona into Discovery Experience, Checkout and Car Preparation Experience.
Squad Roles
A Squad is a multidisciplinary collaborative team of individuals responsible por a specific context and targetting the same goals. Within that context the Product Manager leads the vision and strategy. In a Squad no individual has a people management role, but there is some sort of leadership by influence. The career development of each individual is the responsibility of Functional Leaders outside of the Squad.
A Typical Squad
| Roles | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Product Manager | Deal with Stakeholders, Vision, Strategy, Prioritization, Roadmap, Discovery, Making sure the team is contantly delivering value (more on Product Management) |
| Product Designer | Also know as UX Designer, is responsible for organizing and leading Discovery Workshops, UX Research, UI Design (more on Design) |
| Tech Lead / Engineer Lead | Most experienced Engineer in the team responsible for leading technical discussions and helping the team make the best technical desicions. Normally have experience with multiple platforms and programming languages, as well as some Devops knowledge. |
| Engineers | Repsonsible for delivering a working product with quality. Within Engineers you will find Full-stack Engineers, Front-end Engineers, Backend Engineers, Mobile Engineers (more on Engineering) |
| Optional Roles | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Product Owner | Within teams with more complex context we normally have the secondary Product role of Product Owner responsible for detailing User Stories (and business rules) and staying closer to the team supporting the delivery. This allows the Product Manager to fucos mode on the Discovery aspect. |
| Agile Leader / Team Leader | This is a very common role in team going though a digital transformation where the team (and the company) are not mature enough to run Agile discipline on their own, requiring someone to lead the ceremonies, deal with impediments and support protecting the Agile culture. Also, normally is the person that takes care of the team understanding individual needs and running team building sessions. |
| QA Specialist | |
| Tech Writer |
| Discussions | References |
|---|---|
| Product Manager x Business Owner | Product Managers vs. Business Owners (by Marty Cagan) |
| Product Manager x Product Owner
|
Product Manager vs. Product Owner Revisited (by Mary Cagan)
Product Owner Vs Product Manager: Who Runs The Show? |
| Product Manager x Product Designer
|
A Designer’s Guide to Working with Product Managers
Product design vs product management: everything you need to know (by Hotjar) Product Manager vs Product Designer How product managers can work effectively with product designers |
Tribe Roles
A Tribe contemplates a broader scope/context that glues Squads making sense of their individual goals in one unique direction. A Tribe could start with broader contexts such as “Client Applications”, “Internal Operations”, “Platform” as well as specific products as the company and teams grow, such as “Online Store”, “Partner Portal”.
| People Management Roles | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Lead Product Manager | Also know as PM Lead, Product Lead or Group Product Manager, is responsible for leading the Product Manages within a Tribe Context and provide than a broader vision and strategy, aligned with company goals, that glue each individual Squad Product Vision and Strategy. Also responsible for a more strategic Roadmap focused on Initiaves |
| Lead Product Designer | Also know as Design Lead, … |
| Engineer Manger | Might be called also Engineer Lead if the role is not used within the Squads. Is responsible for leading Squad Engineers and making sure that Engineering Strategy is aligned between Squads |
| Optional Roles |
|---|
| Business Manager / Business Owner |
| QA Lead |
| Tech Writer Lead |
| Architect |
References
Recommended Books
|
Scrum - by Jeff Sutherland The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time 
|
|
Essential Scrum - by Kenneth Rubin A Pratical Guide to Most Popular Agile Process
|
|
Coaching Agile Teams - by Lyssa Adkins A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition
|
|
Agile Retrospectives - by Esther Derby Making Good Teams Great
|
People to Follow
 |
Jeff Sutherland Linkedin, Twitter One of the people behind the Agile Manifesto |
 |
Paulo Caroli Linkedin, Twitter Writer of many books and creator of Team Retrospectives |
