Leadership @ Spotify by Kristian Lindwall at the Lean IT Summit 2014

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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  

Now  

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Structure for innovation

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Vision and purpose

Alignment with the organization

Personal and professional growth

Any act in support of these is an act of leadership

Highly effective

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Autonomy Continuous learning and improvement

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Container squads

IOS Android Desktop Web

Feature squads

Infrastructure squads

Enable & support

Enable & support

Enable & support

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Chapters

P Squad

P P P Squad Squad Squad

Chapter

Chapter

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Tribes

P P P P Squad Squad Squad Squad

Chapter

Chapter

P P P P Squad Squad Squad Squad

Chapter

Chapter

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

•  Safety – no fear culture, embrace failure

”We  aim  to  make  mistakes  faster  than  anyone  else.”  

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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

•  Grow individuals •  Grow chapter competence •  Hire the right people •  Salary reviews

P Squad

P P P Squad Squad Squad

Chapter

Chapter CL

P C

CL

CL

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•  What do we do – and why?

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

Product Owner P

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Product Owner framework •  Working with the world •  Working with the product •  Working with the squad •  Working with the process

P

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Example How we created an artist page roadmap together

Product Owner P

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Agile Coach

•  Grow high performing teams •  Continuous improvement •  Ways of working •  Collaboration •  Grow a high performing organization

P C

Levels of agile coaching, The agile coaching institute

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juli  29,  2014  

juli  29,  2014  

We  definitely  do  the  basics...  

Scrum  

Kanban  

User  stories  

Stand  ups  

Retrospec:ves  

Sprints  

Planning  Poker  XP  

Story  Points  Demos  

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•  Team members

•  Product owners

•  Chapter leads

•  Senior management

1 on 1 coaching

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•  Group of coaches came up with new

visualization

•  Ran workshops with all squads in a tribe

Squad roadmapping

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•  Maturity workshops

•  Big cultural shift

•  Cross tribe initative

Continuous delivery

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Chapter (Team) lead Product Owner

Agile Coach ”POTLAC”

How  can  we  support  our  squad?  

Squad support P CL AC

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Tribe Lead

P Squad

P P P Squad Squad Squad

Chapter

Chapter

Tribe

•  High-performing tribe •  Grow strong chapter leads •  Coach the agile coaches •  Build a strong tribe leadership team

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Tribe Leadership Team

P

P

P

P

Tribe lead, CL, PO, AC Examples •  Recruitment / onboarding •  Grow high-performing tribe and

teams •  Culture •  Alignment

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Dysfunctional leadership team

Good manager

Bad manager

Strong leadership team P CL AC

Leadership teams

Growing high performing squads

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Dependency and inclusion

Counter-dependency and

fight Trust and structure

Work and productivity

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TEAM DYNAMICS RESULT DRIVEN ACTIVITIES

Lean & Agile methods

Innovation

Speed

Quality Value

High-performing squads

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Dependency and inclusion

Counter-dependency and

fight Trust and structure

Work and productivity

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2 3

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TEAM DYNAMICS RESULT DRIVEN ACTIVITIES

Lean & Agile methods

Innovation

Speed

Quality Value

High-performing squads

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Alignment

Autonomy

Autonomy vs. Alignment

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Alig

nmen

t

Autonomy

Micromanaging organization Indifferent culture

Authoritative organization Conformist culture

Entrepreneurial organization

Chaotic culture

Innovative organization

Collaborative culture

Autonomy vs. Alignment

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Innovative organization

Collaborative culture

Supporting squad autonomy

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Example: Ongoing experiment with Priorities

Section name 39 Example: Dominating individuals in a squad

1.  Give  feedback  2.  Improve  team  dynamics  3.  Reinforce  feedback  culture  4.  Nurture  informal  

leadership  P CL AC

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1.  DraK  new  missions  2.  Facilitate  squad  split  3.  Support  individuals  4.  Kick-­‐off  new  squads  

P CL AC

Example: A squad is growing too big

Growing a high performing organization

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CTO

Tribe lead Tribe lead Tribe lead

Chapter lead

Engineer Engineer Engineer

Chapter lead Agile coaches

CPO

VP Product VP Product

Product Owner Product Owner

The reporting structure

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CTO

Tribe lead Tribe lead Tribe lead

Chapter lead

Engineer Engineer Engineer

Chapter lead Agile coaches

CPO

VP Product VP Product

Product Owner Product Owner

supporting The reporting structure

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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

Cause -> Effect

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

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TODO: INSERT PICTURE OF US?

Thank you!

KrisTan  Lindwall  @klindwall