Section name 1

Scaling Agile @ Spotify

•  Released oct 2012

•  Presented at Agile 2013
•  Many questions around leadership
•  How do you make decisions?
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40M active users.

10M paying subscribers.
1.5B playlists.
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56 countries
Growing  fast  

30  

4  years  ago  
Growing  fast  

350
50
50
150
10

Now  
Structure for innovation
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Vision and purpose Highly effective

Autonomy
Continuous learning
x 75 and improvement

Personal and
professional growth Alignment with the
organization

Any act in support of these is

an act of leadership
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Container squads

Enable &
Infrastructure squads support
IOS Android Desktop Web

Feature squads
Enable & support

Enable &
support
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Chapters

Chapter

Chapter

P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad
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Tribes

Chapter Chapter

Chapter Chapter

P P P P P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad Squad Squad Squad Squad

Tribe Tribe
Hierarchy of needs at
Spotify
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Maslow

•  Self-actualization

•  Self-esteem

•  Belonging

•  Safety

•  Physiological
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Maslow

•  Physiological – kickass work

environment
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Maslow

”We  aim  to  make  mistakes  

faster  than  anyone  else.”  

•  Safety – no fear culture, embrace

failure
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Maslow

•  Belonging – social events, strong

teams, tribes...
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Maslow
Formal leadership roles
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Chapter Lead CL
C
P
CL

Chapter •  Grow individuals

CL •  Grow chapter competence
•  Hire the right people
•  Salary reviews
Chapter

P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad
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Product Owner P

•  What do we do – and why?

•  Product vision
•  Squad mission
•  Purpose
•  Alignment
•  Support the squad
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Product Owner framework

•  Working with the world

•  Working with the product
•  Working with the squad
•  Working with the process
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Product Owner P
Example
How we created an artist page
roadmap together
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Agile Coach C
P

•  Grow high performing teams

•  Continuous improvement
•  Ways of working
•  Collaboration

•  Grow a high performing organization

Levels of agile coaching, The agile coaching institute

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Sprints  
User  stories  
Scrum   XP  
Planning  Poker  

We  definitely  do  the  basics...  

Story  Points  
Demos  
Stand  ups   Kanban  

Retrospec:ves  

juli  29,  2014  

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1 on 1 coaching

•  Team members

•  Product owners

•  Chapter leads

•  Senior management
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Squad roadmapping

•  Group of coaches came up with new

visualization

•  Ran workshops with all squads in a tribe

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Continuous delivery

•  Maturity workshops

•  Big cultural shift

•  Cross tribe initative

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Squad support
P CL
AC

How  can  we  

support  our  squad?  

Product Owner
Chapter (Team) lead ”POTLAC”
Agile Coach
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Tribe Lead
•  High-performing tribe
•  Grow strong chapter leads
•  Coach the agile coaches
Chapter
•  Build a strong tribe leadership team

Chapter

P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad
Tribe
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Tribe Leadership Team

Tribe lead, CL, PO, AC

Examples
•  Recruitment / onboarding
P
•  Grow high-performing tribe and
teams
P •  Culture
•  Alignment

P P
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Leadership teams
Strong leadership team AC P CL

Good manager

Dysfunctional leadership team

Bad manager
Growing high performing
squads
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High-performing squads

TEAM DYNAMICS RESULT DRIVEN ACTIVITIES

Counter- Lean & Agile

Trust and structure dependency and methods
fight

3 2 Innovation

Quality
Work and Dependency and Value
productivity inclusion

4 1 Speed
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High-performing squads

TEAM DYNAMICS RESULT DRIVEN ACTIVITIES

Counter- Lean & Agile

Trust and structure dependency and methods
fight

3 2 Innovation

Quality
Work and Dependency and Value
productivity inclusion

4 1 Speed
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Autonomy vs. Alignment

Alignment

Autonomy
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Autonomy vs. Alignment

Authoritative Innovative
organization organization
Conformist Collaborative
culture culture
Alignment

Micromanaging
organization
Indifferent Entrepreneurial
culture organization
Chaotic
culture

Autonomy
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Supporting squad autonomy

Innovative
organization
Collaborative
culture
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Example:
Ongoing experiment with
Priorities
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Dominating individuals in a squad

1.  Give  feedback  

2.  Improve  team  dynamics  
3.  Reinforce  feedback  culture  
4.  Nurture  informal  
AC P CL leadership  
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Example:
A squad is growing too big
1.  DraK  new  missions  
2.  Facilitate  squad  split  
AC P CL 3.  Support  individuals  
4.  Kick-­‐off  new  squads  
Growing a high performing
organization
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The reporting structure

CTO CPO

Tribe lead Tribe lead Tribe lead VP Product VP Product

Chapter lead Chapter lead Agile coaches Product Owner Product Owner

Engineer Engineer Engineer

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The reporting structure

supporting

Engineer Engineer Engineer

Chapter lead Chapter lead Agile coaches Product Owner Product Owner

Tribe lead Tribe lead Tribe lead VP Product VP Product

CTO CPO
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Organic structure If you need to know exactly

who is making decisions,
you are in the wrong place
How  do  we  know  how  we’re  
doing?  
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Squad health check

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Summary
-­‐  Go  for  the  minimum  viable  org  structure  
-­‐  Trust  people  and  give  them  the  freedom  to  innovate  and  perform  
-­‐  Create  Tght  feedback  loops  

Cause -> Effect

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Thank you!

TODO: INSERT PICTURE OF US?

KrisTan  Lindwall  
@klindwall