Spotify has scaled its agile practices to over 1700 employees across multiple sites. They organize into autonomous squads organized by chapters, tribes, and alliances, with an organic structure where employees can determine how to solve problems. Spotify celebrates failures publicly to promote innovation and learning from mistakes. Their values of empowerment, trust, and collaboration help drive autonomy across the organization.

1. 1Section name
Scaling
Agile
at
Spo.fy
NYC Agile Day 2015
Joakim Sundén and Andy Park Spotify

2. 2Section name
Joakim Sundén
Agile Coach at
Spotify since 2011
@joakimsunden
TODO: INSERT PICTURE OF US?
Andy Park
Agile Coach at
Spotify since 2014

3. Section name 3
The right music for every moment

4. 2011

5. 2015

6. 6
75M+ MAU
20M+ paying subs
1.5B+playlists
June 2015March 2011
10M+ MAU
1M+ paying subs
300+employees
250M+playlists
1700+employees
3dev sites 5dev sites

7. 7
Paid more than $3B in royalties
by June 2015 and $300M+ in
first three months of 2015
alone
US Music industry according
to RIAA, is valued at $6.972B in
2014

8. 8Section name

9. Autonomy

10. • Feel like a mini-startup
• Self-organizing
• Cross-functional
Squad
P
C

11. Section name 11

12. Chapter
P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad
Chapter
Chapter CL
CL

13. Tribe
P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad
CL
CL
P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad
CL
CL
Tribe Leads
AC
AC
UX

14. Section name 14
Music Player Tribe
Backend
STOCKHOLM GOTHENBURG
P
Gais Krill Trams
Frontend
QA/TA (+AC)
Core
P
Graph BFS Rafiki
P P
P
P
MQContent
Content 2
Content
Frontend
Backend
AC

15. Guilds
P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad
Chapter
Chapter
P P P P
Squad Squad Squad Squad
Chapter
Chapter
Guild

16. Tribe
Tribe
Alliance
Alliance
leads

17. 9/17/15
17
2015

18. 18
The reporting structure
Alliance lead
Tribe leadTribe lead
Chapter lead
EngineerEngineer Engineer
Chapter lead Agile coaches
Tribe lead
CTO
Alliance lead Tribe lead
CEO

19. 19
Tribe leadTribe lead Tribe lead
Chapter lead
EngineerEngineer Engineer
Chapter lead Agile coaches
supporting
The reporting structure
CTO
Alliance leadAlliance lead Tribe lead
CEO

20. Section name 20
Organic structure If you need to know exactly
who is making decisions,
you are in the wrong place

21. Alignment
&
Autonomy
Alignment
False dichotomy!
Do what I
say!
Autonomy
Do whatever

22. Alignment
enables
Autonomy
High
Alignment
High Autonomy
Build a bridge!
Micromanaging
organization
Indifferent
culture
Entrepreneurial
organization
Chaotic
culture
Authoritative
organization
Conformist culture
Innovative
organization
Collaborative
culture
We need to cross
the river
Figure out how!
We need to cross
the river
Low
Alignment
Low Autonomy
Hope someone is
working on the river
problem…
Source: Stephen Bungay,“Art of Action”

23. 9/17/15
23

24. 9/17/15
24

25. Section name 25

26. Section name 26

27. Celebrate
failure
How we shot
ourselves
in the foot
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WTF?
Slkdfoi clk sdil wkdkdk dk dkiwlslkj dlkh slkj sdflkj
dpijslkjdlldk slkdflk sdflk sdlk kjsdf
Sdflk sdfsdfasdf
Internal blog:
Celebrate failure!
Asdf asdf asdf ddhffdd asdfsdfasdf s dfs ei
lkjsdfkjh dkd ie kkd kdsflk sdi elk sdfkjh
sdfkjhasdflkj dk dj wi dm chsdfjh wlkjsdm
dfkj dfjh slkkd dj dflkj sdfkjh sdf
Slkdfoi clk sdil wkdkdk dk dkiwlslkj dlkh slkj sdflkj
dpijslkjdlldk slkdflk sdflk sdlk kjsdf
Sdflk sdfsdfasdf
Internal blog:

28. Section name 28
Values Culture Org Structure
Empowerment Autonomy Squads
Trust Servant leadership Chapters
Collaboration Teamwork Teams on all levels

29. Joakim Sundén
@joakimsunden
joakim.sunden@spotify.com
www.joakimsunden.com
Andy Park
apark@spotify.com
www.linkedin.com/in/andyhpark
Spotify blog - labs.spotify.com