This document discusses managing cognitive load on software delivery teams. It defines intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive loads, and explains how to limit cognitive load through adequate team topologies. The key team topologies are stream-aligned teams for end-to-end ownership, enabling teams for mentoring, platform teams for reusable services, and specialized subsystem teams. Teams should interact through collaboration, X-as-a-service, or facilitating modes. Explicit cognitive load, team-sized software, and adequate topologies are critical to taming cognitive load.

1. TeamTopologies.com
@TeamTopologies
Manuel Pais
@manupaisable
Playing
Tetris
with
Cognitive
Load

2. Manuel Pais
2
Independent IT organizational
consultant and trainer
Ex-dev, ex-build manager, ex-tester,
ex-team lead
LinkedIn instructor on CI/CD
Twitter: @manupaisable

3. Team Topologies
3
Organizing business and
technology teams for fast flow
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais
IT Revolution Press (2019)
https://teamtopologies.com

5. Team Cognitive Load
CI/CD
infrastructure
security

6. coding
testing deploying
security
infrastructure
operations
CI/CD
arch &
design

7. coding
testing deploying
security
infrastructure
operations
CI/CD
arch &
design
building the
product right

8. “Great products emerge from
empowered, fully cross-functional
teams.”
– John Cutler, 2019
8

9. coding
testing deploying
security
infrastructure
operations
CI/CD
arch &
design
UX
cust satisfaction
metrics
product
viability
QA

10. coding
testing deploying
security
infrastructure
operations
CI/CD
arch &
design
UX
monitor
metrics
product
viability
QA
building the
right product

11. CI/CD
infrastructure
security
Team Cognitive Load

12. UX
metrics
Team Cognitive Load

13. product viability
QA
customer
satisfaction
Team Cognitive Load

15. Team Cognitive Load
16

16. COGNITIVE LOAD:
The total amount of mental
effort being used in the
working memory
- John Sweller
17

17. COGNITIVE LOAD
From a SW delivery
team perspective
18

18. Intrinsic
Extraneous
Germane
19
“How are
classes
defined in
Java?”

19. Intrinsic
Extraneous
Germane
20
“How do I
deploy this
app,
again?”

20. Intrinsic
Extraneous
Germane
21
“How do
bank
transfers
work?”

21. Intrinsic (skills)
Extraneous (mechanism)
Germane (domain focus)
22

22. (Intrinsic)
] Extraneous [
Germane
23

23. Taming Cognitive Load
24
Explicit cognitive load

24. 25
Each service must be fully
owned by a team with
sufficient cognitive capacity
to build and operate it.

25. Assess cognitive load
26
https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Team-Cognitive-Load-Assessment

26. Taming Cognitive Load
27
Explicit cognitive load
Team-sized software

27. Limit the size of software
services/products to the
cognitive load that the
team can handle.
28

28. 29

29. Taming Cognitive Load
30
Explicit cognitive load
Team-sized software
Adequate team topologies

30. topology
the way in which constituent parts are
interrelated or arranged
Greek: τοπολογία (τόπος == ‘place’)
31

31. 4 fundamental topologies
32
Stream-aligned team

32. 33

33. 34
We expect most teams to be
(value) stream-aligned
with end-to-end ownership
(if we want fast flow)

34. Team Cognitive Load

35. 4 fundamental topologies
36
Stream-aligned team
Enabling team

36. 37
Enabling teams reduce the learning
curve for new team capabilities
by teaching and mentoring

37. Team Cognitive Load

38. 4 fundamental topologies
39
Stream-aligned team
Enabling team
Platform team

39. 40
Platform teams provide services that
enable stream-aligned teams to deliver
work with substantial autonomy

40. “A digital platform is a foundation of
self-service APIs, tools, services,
knowledge and support which are
arranged as a compelling internal
product.”
– Evan Bottcher, 2018
41

41. “A digital platform is a foundation of
self-service APIs, tools, services,
knowledge and support which are
arranged as a compelling internal
product.”
– Evan Bottcher, 2018
42

42. Team Cognitive Load

43. 4 fundamental topologies
44
Stream-aligned team
Enabling team
Platform team
Complicated subsystem team

44. 45
Complicated subsystem teams build
and evolve part of a system which
requires specialized, PhD type of
knowledge

45. Team Cognitive Load

46. 4 fundamental topologies
47
Flow of change

47. 48
Team Interaction Modes
Collaboration: 2 teams working together
X-as-a-Service: 1 provides, 1 consumes
Facilitating: 1 team helps another

48. 3 core interaction modes
49
Flow of change
X-as-a-Service
Facilitating
Collaboration

49. 50
When used with care, these are the only
four fundamental topologies and team
interaction modes needed to build and
run modern software systems.

50. Taming Cognitive Load
51
Explicit cognitive load
Team-sized software
Adequate team topologies

52. Free Resources
54
teamtopologies.com/resources
(infographics, slides, video)
teamtopologies.com/tools
(templates, assessments, etc)

53. Team Topologies Academy
self-paced online courses Matthew
Skelton
Manuel
Pais
academy.teamtopologies.com

54. Thank you!
57
Matthew Skelton, Conflux
@matthewpskelton
Manuel Pais, Independent
@manupaisable
teamtopologies.com
@teamtopologies