The Art of Team Design
summary
Consultant experience reorganizing a real product team at Giraffe360 yields concrete rules not platitudes: optimize for cognitive load, use Team Topologies’ four types stream-aligned/enabling/complicated-subsystem/platform, prefer team size ~6–8 engineers and managers who support ≤8, grow a team to ~10 then split, avoid empty-shell hires, prioritize reducing external friction (CI/CD, infra, security approvals) because DORA metrics like lead time for change and deployment frequency actually move when platforms and interactions are right.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Team design challenges
- 3:01Team organization history
- 13:31Team design lessons
- 17:25Cognitive load principles
- 21:19Four team types
- 24:49Advice from The Elegant Puzzle
- 29:02Final recommendations
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