Chapter 5. Team Design

The first four chapters were short and introductory. The water gets deeper from here on. This chapter describes how various multiteam configurations, including the matrix organization, reduce organizational agility and how having fewer outcome-oriented, cross-functional teams can help. It explains why activity-oriented teams cannot work with small batch sizes required for lower cycle time. It covers why testing and maintenance are not separate activities and how certain configurations of outsourcing work better than others do. In terms of the key themes laid out in Chapter 3, the discussion in this chapter expands on organizing for responsiveness over cost-efficiency.

5.1 Framing the Problem

Why do business-IT organizations ...

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