Team Topologies

Inspired by a comment from Anders Bruvik, I asked ChatGPT 4o to write some song lyrics about the dreaded “re-org” and include some Team Topologies ideas:

Please write song lyrics that are similar to the lyrics of the song “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse but are instead focused on avoiding a “reorg”. Include some concepts from Team Topologies. The first line of the song should be “They tried to make me do a reorg, but I said no, no, no”

Here is the result – it’s not bad!

UPDATE: Stephen Kurzeja did a GenAI version of the song via Suno using the lyrics from ChatGPT 🤩 – https://suno.com/song/c4a1e33b-577d-49b1-a438-d3ed0d8d341c

Verse 1:

They tried to make me do a reorg, but I said no, no, no
I like my team just the way it is, can’t you see it’s a flow, flow, flow
I know the silos are hard, but trust the Stream-Aligned
We’ll deliver value fast, on time, on time

Chorus:

I don’t need no new boundaries, or Conway’s Law fix
With clear communication, our team really clicks
You say DevOps, I say fine, just give me a task to grow
But reorgs break our rhythm, and the answer is no, no, no

Verse 2:

They’re talking about Complicated Subsystems, and let’s dismantle the mess
But we need our Enabling Teams, to help and not to impress
Coordination’s key, with our Platform and Stream
Reorgs just shuffle pieces, and disrupt the dream

Chorus:

Bridge:

We got Team Topologies, and we know our roles
Collaborating fluidly, achieving all our goals
You think the org chart changes everything, but I say it’s a show
We got our ways of working, and that’s why the answer’s no

Chorus:

Outro:

Don’t need no reorg, don’t need no shake-up plan
With our team topology, we’re doing all we can
Alignment and flow, that’s how we like to go
Reorgs just bring chaos, so the answer is no, no, no

And for completeness, here is the original video of “Rehab” by the superb Amy Winehouse 💖