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9 hours ago
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In today’s world, software development needs to be super flexible but also stable. Fluid teams are a fresh new idea to help overcome that contradiction.
The Fluid Teams design is comprised of 2 very distinct sets of teams :
- Ephemeral Feature teams (EFT)
- Stable Technology teams (STT)
Ephemeral Feature Teams (EFT)
The Ephemeral Feature Teams are formed by creative minds directly responsible for creating features.
EFT are not long lasting, by design.
- These Ephemeral Feature Teams are assembled at the start of an Epic with a laser focus on it.
- Then, once the epic is completed, the feature team disperses. This leaves room for new associations & therefore new ideas.
The core idea of an EFT is to combine as many specialized skillsets as needed to be able to design, develop, and fully deliver project-based features.
Stable Technology Teams (STT)
What the feature teams brings in flexibility, Stable Technology Teams brings in robustness of the codebase.
A STT is formed by several experts directly responsible for areas of code with a long term perspective.
This team single purpose is to oversees the integrity of the codebase. Those teams are the only ones that have the merging . Therefore they have a responsibility for effective code reviews to ensure that only high standard work lands in the codebase.
However, this immense power comes with a trade-off : in return for their authoritative role in merges, the technology team assumes the full maintenance within the code areas that their members are responsible for.
This symbiotic relationship creates a balance between empowering fluid teams to innovate rapidly and ensuring sustainable, high-quality software delivery.
Summary
| Duration | Short | Long |
| Focus | Features | Maintenance |
| Super Power | Evergreen | Can veto any code merge |
| Critical Weakness | Needs STT approval | Fixes bugs |
| Seniority | Junior/Senior | Senior/Expert |
Advantages of Fluid Teams
| Expertise | As features teams are temporary, you can pick & choose teammates who are great at what exactly the feature needs. |
| Innovation | Constantly changing the teams brings new ideas and different ways of doing things each rotation, so everyone is always thinking with a fresh pairs of eyes. |
| Adaptability | When business needs change, you can quickly rearrange your teams. |
| Happiness | Most team members love working on different projects because they don’t get bored and it helps them grow. |
| Org Scaling | EFT can serve as testing ground for newcomers. As there’s review from STT, they will learn and those that are struggling can be the focus point of management |
Challenges of Fluid Teams
| Confusion | You need to plan carefully to avoid confusion. Make sure that everyone knows what’s going on. |
| Disagreements | Keep the mutual respect between EFT and STT to making things work. |
Remember that even if the responsabilities are different, the final objective is the same.
Usually the STT is seen as impeding the release from the EFT, and the EFT is seen as short term coders.
A good working model is to have a promotion path from EFT to STT. This preserves the creativity of newcomers, but nutures them nicely into the rules of the organisation by “trial and error” when merging their features.
