Enabling Teams

Enabling teams are small, functionally aligned teams that streamline the performance of Stream Teams by defining what good looks like in terms of skills, processes, and tools, and helping to upskill the team members within Stream Teams to meet these standards.

Purpose

The primary purpose of Enabling Teams is to provide specialised support and services that enhance the operational capabilities of Stream Teams, allowing them to improve their product development.

Context

Industry Context

There is often a ceiling for how high an individual contributor can rise in their career without moving into management. This can lead to a loss of expertise in the organisation as the most senior people move into management roles. Enabling Teams provide a way for these experts to continue to contribute to the organisation using their wealth of knowledge and experience without moving into management.

ZeroBlockers Context

ZeroBlockers advocates for a cross-functional team structure because it allows companies to deliver products more efficiently and effectively. But one major challenge with the cross-functional team structure is that it can be difficult to maintain a high level of expertise in all areas because functional experts are distributed around the organisation. Enabling Teams provide a way to upskill Stream Teams in areas where they may not have expertise and distribute knowledge across the organisation.

Methods

Anti-patterns

• Underfunded Teams: Not allocating sufficient resources to Enabling Teams, leading to poor quality and slow progress.
• Irregular Reviews: Not regularly reviewing Enabling Team funding and team structure, leading to misalignment with market conditions.