Team Topologies
Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Paisby Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais and Ruth Malan
Shares rank 4 of 12 management books by recommenders
People recommend it as a practical model for organizing software teams around cognitive load. Critics say it tries to force every organization into its prescribed formats.
People recommend it as a practical model for organizing software teams around cognitive load. Critics say it tries to force every organization into its prescribed formats.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 63%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Clear model for team cognitive load
“the underlying message of not overloading teams with extremely broad feature areas is good”
Comment from 21 Jul 2026 in “The Psychology of Software Teams” “this model (TT) is a proven solution to the problems of cognitive load”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Who Does What? Team Topologies for the Agentic Platform” Topics treated well
“These topics are treated pretty well.”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Coordination Headwind: How Organizations Are Like Slime Molds” Fits most companies
“I think those fit most companies.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Transparent leadership beats servant leadership”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Forces one format on every organization
“they'd try to force every organization to fit into the prescribed team and interaction formats”
Comment from 21 Jul 2026 in “The Psychology of Software Teams” Hard to parse quickly
“it's hard to parse in a doomscrolling / i'll-give-this-5-seconds sense.”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Team Topologies” Much fluff, little substance
“Management literature fluff with little substance, but many claims.”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Who Does What? Team Topologies for the Agentic Platform”
Other management books people recommend
The four most recommended other management books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Unaccountability Machineby Dan Davies | 11 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Turn the Ship Around!by L. David Marquet and Stephen R. Covey | 10 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Shape Upby Ryan Singer | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Team Topologiesby Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais and Ruth MalanThis page | 5 | 3 | 63% | 4 | — | — |
| Peoplewareby Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister | 5 | 2 | 71% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“These topics are treated pretty well.”
“the underlying message of not overloading teams with extremely broad feature areas is good”
“they'd try to force every organization to fit into the prescribed team and interaction formats”
“it's hard to parse in a doomscrolling / i'll-give-this-5-seconds sense.”
“Management literature fluff with little substance, but many claims.”
“this model (TT) is a proven solution to the problems of cognitive load”
“I think those fit most companies.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.