Thoughtworks Technology Podcast Organizational design and Team Topologies after AI
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Sep 4, 2025 Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, co-authors of Team Topologies, dive into the challenges of integrating AI into organizational design. They explore how generative AI can transform team dynamics and enhance productivity while emphasizing the need for structure without stifling creativity. The duo discusses the importance of team autonomy and adaptability, revealing insights from diverse organizations on optimizing workflows. Their conversation also previews the evolution of their ideas ahead of the second edition of Team Topologies, set to launch in September 2025.
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Technology As Empowerment
- Matthew emphasizes technology should empower people, not be used for its own sake.
- Evaluate AI by whether it enables teams to achieve goals, not by novelty or adoption metrics.
Real Examples Of AI Empowering Users
- Matthew describes two vendor demos where AI sped up incident diagnosis and auditor queries.
- Both demos used conversational interfaces to let users get answers quickly without learning complex query languages.
Don’t Optimize Locally Without System View
- Avoid optimizing a single lifecycle step with AI without considering system-wide effects.
- Assess downstream capacity and maintainability before accelerating code generation.
