This document describes how to conduct a team health check based on Spotify's model. It involves discussing 11 topics related to team health using color-coded cards to indicate status. Teams discuss each topic, identify insights, and update a health check matrix. Actions are identified and added to iterations. Conducting regular health checks helps identify areas for improvement and ensures team alignment.

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Health Barometer
Team Health Check
by Amit Khanna, PMI – ACP, PMP, SMC, SPOC, SAMC & SA (SAFe Agilist)
PMI Mumbai chapter volunteer
Email me: amit.2503@gmail.com

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Agenda
• Why team health check
• What and How to conduct
• Takeaway
• Q&A

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Why Team health check
• My Story
• As a project manager and agile enthusiast, my immediate attention was to perform
lesson learned or do retrospection.

4. 4
General practice

5. 5
Solution

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What is Spotify health check
• Spotify labs came out with this health check in 2014
• 11 topics (teamwork, fun, easy to release, learning, health of
codebase) we discuss them in the how part
• Visualizes the ‘health’ of a team
• During discussion, the team builds up self-awareness about what’s
working and what’s not

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How to conduct one?
• Like any retrospection, health check is conducted in the following manner
• Setting the stage
• Gather data
• Generate Insights
• Act
• Close

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What you need
90-120
mins
https://images.app.goo.gl/VWRkLDSjbFfeiLR66

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Health Check – setting the stage & gather data (approx. 30
mins)
Mission
We know exactly why we
are here and we’re really
excited about it!
We have no idea why we
are here, there's no high
lever picture or focus. Our
so called mission is
completely unclear and
uninspiring.
Pawns or Players
We are in control of our
own destiny! We decide
what to build and how to
build it.
We are just pawns in a
game of chess with no
influence over what we
build or how we build it.
Speed
We get stuff done really
quickly! No waiting and
no delays.
We never seem to get
anything done. We keep
getting stuck or
interrupted. Stories keep
getting stuck on
dependencies.
• Briefly explain the format and instructions and shared the different topics we would cover
• Example
• Green doesn’t necessarily mean things are perfect. It just means the team is happy with this, and see no major need for improvement
right now.
• Yellow means there are some important problems that need addressing, but it’s not a disaster.
• Red means this really sucks and needs to be improved.
• For a few sample indicators, I shared the positive and negative description that’s is written down on every card
• Ask the team to read all the cards and respond with questions if any.

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Health Check – setting the stage ...contd
Delivering Value
We deliver great stuff! We're
proud of it and our
stakeholders are really happy.
We deliver crap. We feel
ashamed to deliver it. Our
stakeholders hate us.
Easy to release
Releasing is simple, safe,
painless and mostly
automated.
Releasing is risky, painful,
lots of manual work and
takes forever.
Fun
We love going to work and
have great fun working
together!
Boooooooring...
Health of
Codebase
We're proud of the quality
of our code! It is clean, easy
to read and has great test
coverage.
Our code is a pile of dung
and technical debt is raging
out of control.

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Health Check – setting the stage ....contd
Suitable Process
Our way of working fits us
perfectly!
Our way of working sucks!
Support
We always get great support
and help when we ask for it!
We keep getting stuck
because we can't get the
support and help that we ask
for.
Teamwork
We are a totally gelled super-
team with awesome
collaboration!
We are a bunch of
individuals that neither know
nor care about what the
other people in the squad are
doing.
Learning
We're learning lots of
interesting stuff all the time!
We never have time to learn
anything.

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Health Check – setting the stage ....contd

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Health Check – Generate insights (approx. 30
mins)
• Based on the number of teams (groups), you ask them to discuss each topic
• The insights were written down on sticky notes and placed on the whiteboard or use the whiteboard on the
WebEx or skype
• Every team presented their insights with each other and briefly discussed the questions and uniqueness

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Health Check – Act (45 mins)
– Based on the insights, teams will now update the Health check matrix on the board
– Once every team has shared their data, then we ask for an explanation on why they choose the color
– Tip# 1 – Based on the number of groups, let everyone share their details with the facilitator first and then you
can fill the board, this way you will get the first impression on the feedback.
– Tip# 2 - Based on a number of groups, you may want to vote on the top 5 topics that the team decides to work
upon during the upcoming quarter.

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Health Check – Act (45 mins) - Example

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• Comparison of project A
team health check between
October 2018 and March
2019
• Next health check planned
on June-28th 2019
Example – Project A

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• Comparison of project B team health check between March 2019 and
June 2019
Example – Project B

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Health Check – Close (15 mins)
• Make sure that you have team buy-in on actions and next steps
• Add them to your Iterations/Sprints as necessary
• Always check on they felt after the Health check
• Decide, how frequently you want to do it in the team (recommendation is once a
quarter)
• Appreciate your team’s attendance and efforts towards sharing their views

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Takeaway
• You can perform this health check on any team at any point in the project; however, my
recommendation would be to do it when
– You are asked to lead an existing team (whether they are performing better or worst does
not matter)
– Your existing team has spent around 3-6 months on the project
– You are managing different teams which could be linked to each other (SAFe way)
• Conduct it within your project management group or account team or practice team
• Customize it as per your need
• Do not make this as Survey (Face to Face preferred, else get everyone on a call and use video
mode)
• Try not to compare teams
• Make sure there is no incentive to game the model. There should be no reason for a team to
want to “look good.”

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Resources
• https://www.agileandbeyond.co/portfolio/a-retrospective-of-spotifys-squad-health-check-todd-
galloway/
• https://images.app.goo.gl/VWRkLDSjbFfeiLR66
• https://labs.spotify.com/2014/09/16/squad-health-check-model/
• http://www.barryovereem.com/how-i-used-the-spotify-squad-health-check-model/
• http://www.funretrospectives.com/category/retrospective/
• Book – The Art of Agile Development by James Shore
• Images
– https://images.app.goo.gl/fLFF4wbDdR8mvWZG9
– https://images.app.goo.gl/t1jsmtJU7f562Zze6