Rich Allen is an independent consultant and sociotechnical architect with over two decades of experience helping organizations improve delivery flow, system clarity, and team effectiveness.

His career spans roles from software engineer and tech lead through to architect and start-up CTO, giving him a rare blend of technical depth and organizational insight.

As one of the longest-serving Team Topologies Valued Practitioners (TTVPs), Rich has helped numerous organizations adopt Team Topologies patterns, principles, and practices; reducing cognitive load, clarifying service boundaries, and enabling faster, healthier flow of value and learning.

Rich has also played an active role in the evolution of Team Topologies practices, working in the core team alongside the authors to shape modern thinking around fast flow and team interactions. He is the author of User Needs Mapping and the creator/curator of the Fast Flow Toolkit, Flow Decision Records — tools for designing flow-centric teams and systems.

Rich specialises in uncovering bottlenecks, supporting dynamic team evolution, and enabling sustainable ways of working grounded in feedback, autonomy, and continuous improvement.

In his free time, Rich enjoys spending time with family on the beach in Bournemouth and playing badminton when he gets a break from being a taxi for his kids. Rich also holds a third-degree blackbelt and teaching qualification in the Natural Way Karate (Shizenryu).