# Indicators for team interfaces Implement mechanisms to enhance productivity within and across teams, providing effective communication channels to guide the flow of work. **Topics** + [ # [OA.TI.1] Communicate work flow and goals between teams and stakeholders ](oa.ti.1-communicate-work-flow-and-goals-between-teams-and-stakeholders.md) + [ # [OA.TI.2] Streamline intra-team communication using tools and processes ](oa.ti.2-streamline-intra-team-communication-using-tools-and-processes.md) + [ # [OA.TI.3] Establish mechanisms for teams to gather and manage customer feedback ](oa.ti.3-establish-mechanisms-for-teams-to-gather-and-manage-customer-feedback.md) + [ # [OA.TI.4] Refine error tracking and resolution ](oa.ti.4-refine-error-tracking-and-resolution.md) + [ # [OA.TI.5] Design adaptive approval workflows without compromising safety ](oa.ti.5-design-adaptive-approval-workflows-without-compromising-safety.md) + [ # [OA.TI.6] Prioritize customer needs to deliver optimal business outcomes ](oa.ti.6-prioritize-customer-needs-to-deliver-optimal-business-outcomes.md) + [ # [OA.TI.7] Maintain a unified knowledge source for teams ](oa.ti.7-maintain-a-unified-knowledge-source-for-teams.md) + [ # [OA.TI.8] Simplify access to organizational information ](oa.ti.8-simplify-access-to-organizational-information.md) + [ # [OA.TI.9] Facilitate self-service collaboration through APIs and documentation ](oa.ti.9-facilitate-self-service-collaboration-through-apis-and-documentation.md) + [ # [OA.TI.10] Choose interaction modes for improved efficiency and cost savings ](oa.ti.10-choose-interaction-modes-for-optimal-efficiency-and-cost-savings.md) + [ # [OA.TI.11] Offer optional opportunities for cross-team collaboration ](oa.ti.11-offer-optional-opportunities-for-cross-team-collaboration.md) # [OA.TI.1] Communicate work flow and goals between teams and stakeholders **Category:** FOUNDATIONAL When operating in a DevOps model, many small teams work together to deliver business outcomes to customers. Working in this way requires effective interteam communication and collaboration, as any miscommunication or delay can impact the speed and quality of delivering products. One way to achieve this is by regularly sharing ongoing work, roadmaps, and team goals with key stakeholders and other teams. By externalizing this information, teams can improve visibility across the organization. This helps teams understand how their work impacts others and the overall business goals. Teams can use work tracking tools that promote a more agile, adaptive approach, such as Scrum or Kanban boards, and dashboards to make their work, priorities, and key metrics visible to others in the organization. Make these tools easily accessible, either through physical displays or digital platforms, to promote alignment with business objectives. Regularly review the flow of work to identify bottlenecks, areas for improvement, and opportunities to optimize the process. # [OA.TI.2] Streamline intra-team communication using tools and processes **Category:** FOUNDATIONAL Equip teams with tools to automate and manage their workflows, priorities, and decision-making processes. Implement team collaboration, document sharing, task creation, and progress monitoring tools. Establish team norms and practices, such as lexicons, story pointing, and defining *done*, to streamline intra-team communication. Use reporting tools, playbooks, and retrospective sessions to improve processes and team norms. **Related information:** + [Team Collaboration with Amazon CodeCatalyst](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/devops/team-collaboration-with-amazon-codecatalyst/) # [OA.TI.3] Establish mechanisms for teams to gather and manage customer feedback **Category:** FOUNDATIONAL Establish feedback channels that help teams gather and manage input from both internal and external customers of their products. Related processes should be created for teams to track, prioritize, and act on the feedback received for their respective value stream. Integrate the feedback with collaboration tools and existing workflows so that inputs, decisions, and outcomes are documented and prioritized with the rest of the value stream work. Embed the feedback into your team norms. Feedback data should continually be analyzed to identify trends, prioritize areas for improvement, and communicate progress to stakeholders. # [OA.TI.4] Refine error tracking and resolution **Category:** FOUNDATIONAL Establish mechanisms for continuous improvement in error correction, tracking, and resolution. This includes developing a culture of learning from mistakes, sharing knowledge, and using data-driven insights to drive improvements. Implement tools and processes to facilitate effective error tracking and resolution, such as issue tracking systems, monitoring, and alerting solutions. Regularly review and analyze error data to identify trends, prioritize issues, and take corrective action. Encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing among teams to improve overall error management and resolution capabilities. **Related information:** + [Correction of Error (COE)](https://wa.aws.amazon.com/wat.concept.coe.en.html) + [Amazon's approach to high-availability deployment: How we learn from deployment failures](https://youtu.be/bCgD2bX1LI4?t=325) # [OA.TI.5] Design adaptive approval workflows without compromising safety **Category:** FOUNDATIONAL Establish approval processes and guidelines that prioritize speed, safety, and agility. These processes should account for factors such as risk assessment, impact analysis, and stakeholder engagement, while also allowing for feedback and improvement. Use automation and tools to support these processes, rather than requiring complex, human-driven collaboration between teams. Use data and APIs from version control systems, deployment pipelines, and release management tools to support automated approval processes. These tools can help streamline the approval process, reducing the risk of errors and delays while promoting agility and speed. Make all stakeholders aware of changes, and verify that they can provide input and feedback in a timely manner. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the time it takes to submit, review, approve, and deploy changes. Use these metrics to drive continuous improvement in the change management process. # [OA.TI.6] Prioritize customer needs to deliver optimal business outcomes [OA.TI.6] Prioritize customer needs to deliver optimal business outcomes **Category:** RECOMMENDED Customer-driven development is an approach that places the end user's needs and expectations at the heart of product development. Instead of starting with technical specifications or available resources, teams start by visualizing the ideal user experience. From there, iteratively work backwards to determine how to deliver on that plan. An example of this is the Amazon *working backwards* process. At Amazon, the development process begins with a document that outlines the product's core value to customers as a Press Release and Frequently Asked Questions (PRFAQ) document. This document often contains detailed data points such as usage forecasts, adoption expectations, the value to the customer, and how we can provide that value to customers. With this approach, Amazon can continuously build products and features that resonate with user needs. To implement this mechanism within your organization, begin the development process by writing a document that envisions the desired customer outcome. From there, work backwards to establish the technical and operational steps to achieve that outcome. Use mechanisms such as surveys and interviews to understand customer needs and gather data points. Next, add a detailed set of meaningful FAQs to clarify product intricacies, anticipate questions customers will have, and preempt potential challenges. Before starting development, create visual mock-ups and provide use cases to offer a tangible representation for the team so they understand how users interact with the product. Draft user guides or documentation that can provide clarity on how users will interact with the system and features to expect. Share these documents internally to gain alignment and additional perspective from other teams and leaders. The documents can also be used throughout the development lifecycle to provide developers a clear understanding of the desired customer experience, leading to fewer errors and quicker deployment cycles. Establish a continuous feedback loop that gathers customer insights and use them to inform decision-making and prioritize additional products and features. **Related information:** + [Working Backwards](https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2006/11/working_backwards.html) + [The Amazon Software Development Process: Listen to Customers](https://youtu.be/52SC80SFPOw?t=2076) + [AWS re:Invent 2020: Working backwards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFdpBqmDpzM) # [OA.TI.7] Maintain a unified knowledge source for teams [OA.TI.7] Maintain a unified knowledge source for teams **Category:** RECOMMENDED Adopt collaboration and configuration tools, supported by established processes, to store documents, configurations, and other artifacts in a unified source of record. Keep documentation up-to-date to help teams work more autonomously and build trust. Implement processes for regular review of artifacts in the source of record and remove outdated content as needed. DevOps adoption can be achieved without a unified source of record between teams. However, it's more challenging for teams to find and manage information as they transition how they work and adopt new tools. This approach can lead to inefficient or duplicated processes and communication gaps over time. Therefore, it is highly recommended to have a centralized knowledge repository in place to improve team collaboration, knowledge sharing, onboarding time, and overall development and operational efficiency. For example, create internal wiki pages for each team to document their team norms and best practices. # [OA.TI.8] Simplify access to organizational information [OA.TI.8] Simplify access to organizational information **Category:** RECOMMENDED Provide internal users access to vital organizational information, such as details about the organization, objectives, analytics, employee data, policies, hierarchical structures, and escalation channels. One approach is to manage a centralized platform, like an intranet, where employees can swiftly locate the information they need for effective job performance. To improve the platform's information integrity and relevance, connect it with internal systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, and maintain regular updates at the source. Include instruction and training on using this platform as part of the onboarding process to equip employees with the necessary skills for information access. Further enhance the platform with generative AI-powered internal research and search capabilities. This helps users swiftly access and interpret proprietary, complex documentation regarding compliance, regulations, or portfolio research using text summarization. Search is another method for faster information retrieval and classification, expediting access to relevant documents during review processes. Search also improves extraction of accurate answers from researched materials by querying a topic. **Related information:** + [Business Value is IT's Primary Measure of Progress](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/enterprise-strategy/business-value-is-its-primary-measure-of-progress/) + [Amazon Bedrock](https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/) + [Amazon Kendra](https://aws.amazon.com/kendra/) + [Amazon OpenSearch Service](https://aws.amazon.com/opensearch-service/) # [OA.TI.9] Facilitate self-service collaboration through APIs and documentation [OA.TI.9] Facilitate self-service collaboration through APIs and documentation **Category:** RECOMMENDED Develop clear and comprehensive service documentation for improved accessibility and navigation, including user guides, tutorials, and FAQs. Provide well-defined interfaces, such as APIs or web portals, to simplify access and usage. Regularly review and update interfaces to meet user needs. Establish ownership for documentation and services, and implement mechanisms for teams to ask for clarification, help, or provide feedback. Define metrics around the usage, availability, and quality of self-service documentation and APIs. Providing self-service access to services through APIs simplifies integration between systems and teams, reduces the need for manual intervention, and promotes better documentation. This approach helps teams work more autonomously and accelerates the development process. This capability is highly recommended for a more efficient and streamlined DevOps environment, but it is not a foundational requirement for successful DevOps adoption. Without this capability, expect increased manual coordination and required communication between teams, which could impact overall efficiency. **Related information:** + [The Amazon Software Development Process: Self-Service Tools](https://youtu.be/52SC80SFPOw?t=579) # [OA.TI.10] Choose interaction modes for improved efficiency and cost savings [OA.TI.10] Choose interaction modes for improved efficiency and cost savings **Category:** RECOMMENDED Teach teams about the different interaction modes as outlined in [Team Topologies](https://teamtopologies.com/), including *X as a Service* (XaaS), facilitation, and collaboration. With knowledge of how to optimize interaction modes for specific scenarios, teams can measure the cost, efficiency, and applicability of each mode against their use case. Identify excessive and costly interaction modes and create a tailored improvement plan to optimize them depending on each team's preferences, topology, and skills. Provide training and support to help teams better understand the available interaction modes and how to use them effectively to achieve the desired outcome. By optimizing team interactions, organizations can reduce costs while maintaining efficiency and collaboration. XaaS is typically the most cost-effective and efficient interaction mode between teams when available, as it involves providing and consuming self-service capabilities rather than sustained direct communications. In this mode, a team provides an interface that can easily be integrated into the existing workflows of one or more teams. Facilitation is the second most efficient, where a team temporarily mentors another team to provide resources and support to accomplish a task. While facilitation can be more expensive than XaaS, it can also be more effective in situations where face-to-face communication or more direct support is needed.  Collaboration is the least efficient interaction mode. It involves working together as a team to achieve a common goal. This interaction mode can be highly effective in certain situations; however, it can also be more time-consuming and less cost-efficient than other interaction modes. Meetings are expensive, and collaboration always requires direct involvement between teams. Find the right balance between the different interaction modes by choosing the right mode for the use case. # [OA.TI.11] Offer optional opportunities for cross-team collaboration [OA.TI.11] Offer optional opportunities for cross-team collaboration **Category:** RECOMMENDED Establish regular communication channels and forums to encourage cross-team collaboration and information sharing. This can include joint planning sessions, team demos, or cross-team retrospectives. Encourage a culture of open communication and collaboration across teams, sharing knowledge, best practices, and lessons learned. Monitor the effectiveness of these cross-team communication and collaboration opportunities and adjust the approach as needed based on feedback and observed outcomes.