How we work
To illustarte you our "work-together" process we found an awesome link from Rik van der Wardt: Thx that we are allowed to publish the english version! [Link to german article] This is the translation from the original german text.
Organisations that think agile are characterised by self-organising teams. They apply agile concepts such as Scrum when implementing projects. But how can several independent teams be busy developing one and the same product or service? How do you ensure that the teams work together in an optimal way? Who is responsible for the overall project? Spotify has found a way to embed Agile related work practices into the DNA of its organisation. Spotify's organisational model is now used as a model by several multinationals. One of them is ING Bank. In this article we take a closer look at the so-called Spotify model.
Agile and Scrum for large organisations A Scrum team usually consists of seven to 11 people. They take on different roles:
Product Owner: represents the stakeholders and administers et the Product Backlog. Scrum Master: supports the Scrum Team and facilitates the process. Development Team: a multidisciplinary team of five to nine people responsible for delivering a product or service after each sprint. But how do you approach a project whose size and complexity exceeds the capacity of an 11-person team? On which, for example, 1,000 or even more people work? Are several teams needed? And will the individual Scrum teams get bigger? And how do the different teams work together afterwards? Who takes over the management of the whole thing?
The organisational model of Spotify Spotify, originally a Swedish music and video streaming service, has evolved from the use of various Agile methods into an organisational model. It is now commonly referred to as the Spotify model. Since its inception in 2006, Spotify has grown into a service with 140 million active users per month. With access to approximately 30 million titles. The company has approximately 1,600 employees. Already in 2015 the turnover was 2.18 billion US dollars. No wonder that many organisations like ING Bank have copied the organisational model of Spotify and adopted it.
The Spotify model
The Spotify model consists of: Squads, Tribes, Chapters and Guilds.
Squads Squads form the basis of the Spotify model.
A Squad is comparable to a Scrum Team. It is self-organising. Spotify wants a squad to have the character of a mini startup. Through a multidisciplinary team it should be equipped with all the knowledge and skills needed to develop the respective product or service. From the first rough sketches to the completion. At Spotify a long-term mission is defined for each squad. All Squads are responsible for the development and improvement of parts of the music service.
There is no team leader because the squad controls itself. However, a Product Owner is instructed. The Product Owner sets priorities for the work the team has to do. The Scrum Team decides how it organises itself and works.
The product owners of the different squads work together to develop a roadmap. Here the strategic course of the company is visualised. Then each Product Owner uses the roadmap to create a suitable Product Backlog for the team.
In addition, an Agile Coach is available to each Squad. He helps to identify and remove any obstacles. Furthermore, he provides support for the continuous improvement of working methods. The Agile Coach also organises the Retrospective and the Sprint Planning Meeting.
Tribes
A tribe is a group of squads working on the same product or service, or related products or services.
A Tribe can be seen as a kind of incubator with a certain freedom and autonomy, consisting of several mini startups. Each tribe has a leader. His task is to create an optimal working environment for the squads. Normally the squads of a team have their workplace in the same office building. This has a positive effect on their cooperation.
A Tribe often consists of no more than 100 people. The reason for this upper limit of Tribes: people are usually not able to build and maintain more than 100 social relationships.
To keep the members of the Tribes informed about the work of the others, regular meetings are organised. At these meetings the Tribe teams present their work.
Scrum or Scrums It often happens that squads working on the same product are dependent on each other. For example, because a subproduct must be tested by a certain squad before another squad can implement it.
To ensure that the different squads hinder each other as little as possible in the progress of their project, so-called Scrum or Scurms are held. Scrums or a Scrum is a meeting in which each team is represented by one member. This allows the teams to coordinate their activities.
Chapters and Guilds All workers in the organisation with the same expertise are distributed among different multidisciplinary squads. This is why there are the so-called Chapters and Guilds. In them these people with the same competences and skills come together.
A chapter consists of members of a tribe who have the same expertise. For example, a chapter can consist of web developers. Under the leadership of a chapter leader, who is also a member of a squad, there is a regular exchange between the members. They tell each other what experience they have had and what knowledge they have acquired. And they discuss the challenges they have faced in their field of expertise. The chapter leadership is also responsible for supporting the development of the staff, helping them to acquire new skills and helping them to determine an appropriate salary level.
Guilds
A Guild is a group of workers with the same expertise and/or interests. Guilds are not limited to one tribe, but involve the entire organisation. For example, there is also a Web Developer Guild or an Agile Coach Guild. The Guild Coordinator organises meetings at regular intervals. In these meetings all employees with the same professional background come together to exchange knowledge and experience, support the organisation as a whole and improve it.
When several teams are working on the same partial product, it is common practice to assign responsibility for the entirety of a certain partial product and/or the complete finished product to a certain person. Spotify, for example, has a system owner. He has to ensure that Spotify runs cleanly on an operating system such as Android or Windows. There is also a Chief Architect. This Chief Architect has an overview of the entire Spotify architecture and makes sure that it is aligned with the latest version of Spotify.
The strength of the Spotify model The strength of the Spotify model is that on the one hand, employees with different expertise work together in a group (squads). This enables them to develop a product or service independently. On the other hand, the model allows employees with the same expertise to share experiences (in chapters and guilds). In this way they can develop in their area of expertise. By the way, the change process is very demanding for an Agile HR department. But that should not be a reason not to initiate this change.
Apart from the Spotify model, there are also other methods by which large organisations can implement agile working methods. These include LeSS, SAFe and Nexus. Would you like to know more about these organisational models? Or are you interested in a workshop on how to implement Agile in fast growing organisations? Then please contact us by e-mail: [email protected]