Spotify Doesn't Use the Spotify Model
Many years ago, the good people at the music streaming service Spotify wrote about their Agile organization structure. The so-called ‘Spotify Model’, summarized in the graphic here, has inspired many other organizations to mimc the same structure and terminology (Squads, Tribes, Chapters, Guilds), even today. There’s just one problem, though: Spotify doesn’t use the ‘Spotify Model’. In fact, it never truly did, according to insider Jeremiah Lee. Spotify doesn’t use it, and most likely, neither should you.
Firstly, it is unwise to blindly “copy & paste” someone else’s organization structure into your own. Secondly, the Spotify model failed at Spotify for some very specific reasons.
The ‘Spotify Model’ that never was realized…
This model was aspirational for Spotify, but why didn’t stick? I’ve summarized Lee’s primary factors here.
Re-labeling teams and departments as ‘squads’ and ‘tribes’ created confusion and failed mythology
Matrix management was ineffective
As a scale-up company, teams optimized for autonomy were sub-optimal
Teams lacked basic Agile competency
Let’s examine each factor.
Re-labeling
At it’s core, the model amounted to a re-labeling of a matrix structure. Each ‘chapter’ was really just a functional area (e.g. Testing, Programming, Design) with its own people manager. A ‘squad’ is simply a cross-functional team, by the way. Why not just call it a team? Each ‘Tribe’ was really just an old-fashioned 'Department’. Nothing changed about these structures, so new names just created confusion and led to the myth of meaningful change.
Matrix Management
Each ‘Squad’ (which should have been called a Team) had multiple functional managers, one for each ‘Chapter’, which were just functional areas re-labeled: Testing, back-end, mobile, etc. Any disagreement within the team often had to be resolved between multiple managers, and without consensus, then had to be escalated to the Director of the ‘Tribe’ (Department).
Team Autonomy
Squads were optimized for maximum autonomy. This is great for a fast-adapting start-up, but created problems for a mature scale-up company. Spotify needed more consistency between teams to better manage the company’s fast growth and, avoid duplication and avoid downstream complexity & technical entropy.
Agile Competency
In alignment with the autonomy, Spotify gave each team control over its own process and practices. But they didn’t have enough coaches to help every team, and many teams did not have enough knowledge of Agile principles and practices to implement them effectively. According to Lee, “It was not really agile. It was just not-waterfall.”