Team Topologies Interaction Modes
Effective collaboration between teams is essential for delivering value quickly and efficiently. Team Topologies defines three key interaction modes that help teams work together while minimizing friction and dependencies. These modes ensure that teams can collaborate purposefully, avoid unnecessary disruptions, and maintain focus on their goals.

The Three Interaction Modes

1. Collaboration

Definition: Collaboration is a short-term, high-intensity interaction between two or more teams to solve a specific problem or deliver a shared outcome.

When to Use:

  • Teams need to innovate together on a new solution.
  • Cross-functional expertise is required to address a complex challenge.

Characteristics:

  • Intense and time-bound.
  • Requires clear goals and well-defined success criteria.
  • Often used during the discovery or experimentation phases.

2. Facilitating

Definition: Facilitating is when one team provides guidance, expertise, or tools to help another team improve its capabilities or overcome a specific challenge.

When to Use:

  • A team needs support to adopt a new technology or practice.
  • Specialized expertise is required for skill-building or problem-solving.

Characteristics:

  • Focused on enabling long-term improvement.
  • Temporary and advisory in nature.
  • Helps the receiving team gain independence over time.

Examples in User Needs Mapping:

  • An Enabling Team helps a Stream-Aligned Team implement continuous deployment practices.
  • A DevOps Enablement Team guides multiple Stream-Aligned Teams in adopting new infrastructure tools.

3. X-as-a-Service

Definition: X-as-a-Service is when one team provides services, APIs, or tools to be consumed by another team, typically in a self-service manner.

When to Use:

  • Teams rely on reusable components or foundational systems.
  • Consistent, predictable interactions are required without ongoing collaboration.

Characteristics:

  • Low-friction and highly predictable.
  • Requires well-documented and user-friendly services.
  • Reduces the need for direct communication between teams.

Applying Interaction Modes with User Needs Mapping

User Needs Mapping helps identify dependencies between capabilities, which can inform the interaction modes required between teams. By defining these modes:

  • Collaboration: Teams can innovate and solve complex challenges together.
  • Facilitating: Specialized teams can upskill others to reduce long-term dependencies.
  • X-as-a-Service: Teams can focus on their streams of work by leveraging reliable, self-service tools and platforms.

Although we do not model the interaction modes on a User Needs Map, we can use the interaction modes to help us understand how teams should interact with each other.

Example Workflow:

  1. Use your User Needs Map to identify dependencies between teams.
  2. Assign the appropriate interaction mode based on the nature of the dependency i.e. Platform teams should typically seek to act in Collaboration or X-as-a-Service mode.
  3. Regularly review and adjust interaction modes as teams evolve or new capabilities emerge.

Key benefits of defined interaction modes

  • Reduces unnecessary interruptions and confusion between teams.
  • Ensures purposeful and effective collaboration.
  • Enhances the flow of value across the organization.