leadership @ spotify by kristian lindwall at the lean it summit 2014
DESCRIPTION
Spotify has been growing quickly as a company, and they are continuously experimenting with ways of making the company work as effectively as possible. At the Lean IT Summit 2014, Kristian explained how management and leadership work in a large agile organization like Spotify. Find out what leadership looks like in a large agile organization? How can a leader support autonomy and alignment? How different forms of leadership – both formal and informal, product, organizational and technical – overlap and interact to create successful teams. More Lean IT on www.lean-it-summit.comTRANSCRIPT
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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
350 50 50
150 10
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
x 75
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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2 3
4
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
1
2 3
4
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