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Enabling Autonomy at Spotify
Jason Yip
Agile Coach, Monetization Tribe, Spotify NYC
@jchyip
https://jchyip.blogspot.com
https://medium.com/@jchyip
What do you mean when you say “autonomy”?
Autonomy means the freedom to do what you
feel like.
Autonomy means the freedom to do what you
feel like.
Psychologically shallow
Autonomy means the freedom to do what you
feel like.Devoid of meaning and shared identity
Psychologically shallow
Autonomy means the freedom to do what you
feel like.Devoid of meaning and shared identity Probably leads to
depression
Psychologically shallow
Autonomy means feeling free to act, with all your
capabilities, to contribute toward a collective outcome.
Autonomy means feeling free to act, with all your
capabilities, to contribute toward a collective outcome.
Psychologically strong
Autonomy means feeling free to act, with all your
capabilities, to contribute toward a collective outcome.Contributes to a sense of capability and self-efficacy
Psychologically strong
Okay, I accept your definition of autonomy. How might I support it?
http://blog.crisp.se/2016/08/23/henrikkniberg/alignment-at-scale-agile-africa-keynote
What do you mean when you say “alignment”?
Alignment = Intent + rationale + constraints
Intent: WhatRationale: WhyConstraints: Any restrictions on How
Alignment = Intent + rationale + constraints
Intent: We need to cross the riverRationale: There is more food on the other sideConstraints: Please don’t kill any beavers
What does Spotify do to enable alignment?
Company BeliefsOur World
Our PlatformOur Company
Our TeamsTop-level rationale
North Star + 2 Year GoalsOur World
Our PlatformOur Company
Our TeamsTop-level intent
Company Bets (rank, WIP limit)Sponsor, Road Manager,
Key Stakeholders, Summary, DIBB (Data Insights, Beliefs, Bets), Impact, Investment,
Staffing, DependenciesIntent, rationale, constraints
Tribe Bets
Varies
Intent, rationale, constraints
Squad Missions and Roadmaps
Varies
Intent, rationale, constraints
TPD leadership
Tribe TPD leads
Company Beliefs
North Star / 2 Year Goals
Company Bets
TPD leadership
Tribe TPD leads
Company Beliefs
North Star / 2 Year Goals
Company Bets
Strategy Days
TPD Alignment
Taps
Other Tribe / Squad sessions vary
So that’s all I need to enable autonomy?
Well, no.
Alignment is not enough to enable
autonomy.
http://www.davidmarquet.com/our-story/
Autonomy is enabled by Alignment AND Competence
What do you mean when you say
“competence”?
Essentially, I trust that
1. You will decide things in a similar way to how I would
2. You have similar or better skill to do the work
Competence means shared work beliefs
AND technical excellence
What does Spotify do to enable competence?
Engineering Core Beliefs‣ Speed of learning and execution lead us to create a best in
class product‣ The fewer technologies we are world class on, the faster we get‣ Shorter iterations yield faster learning, quicker value and higher
quality‣ Small empowered cross-functional teams is the foundation of
fast paced product development and innovation‣ Strong teams always beat rock stars‣ Your ability to learn and adapt is more important than your
knowledge, merit and experience
“Get off to a flying start with backend development by following our step-by-step Golden Path tutorials:
they'll show you how to develop, build, provision, deploy, test, and monitor a backend service in our production environment. These tutorials are designed to get new
employees, boot camp squads – indeed anyone who is new to backend development at Spotify – to get up to speed,
fast!”
“The Chapter Lead is the line manager for his or her chapter
members, with all the traditional responsibilities such as
developing people, setting salaries, etc”
Not justTPD
‣ #tech-excellence‣ #fearless-development
Slack channels and unconferences
So Spotify is really good at enabling
autonomy?
Autonomy is a strong belief at Spotify… but...
Let’s say it’s a work in progress
Zombie projects Looser than I’d like on technical habits
Not a strong tradition of technically-oriented coaches
Experience skews
toward the young side
TPD / Business gap
Ability to absorb
rapid growth rate
So, that’s all I need to enable autonomy?
First, don’t just copy.
Think for yourself.
We are after all talking about enabling
autonomy.
Principles are probably generalisable.
Autonomy means feeling free to act, with all your
capabilities, to contribute toward a collective outcome.
Autonomy is enabled by Alignment AND Competence
Alignment = Intent + rationale + boundaries
Intent: WhatRationale: WhyBoundaries: Any restrictions on How
Competence means shared work beliefs
AND technical excellence
Beyond principles, you’ll need to
experiment with the specific mechanisms.
Who are you again?
Who was that guy?
‣ Jason Yip‣ Agile Coach at Spotify since Feb 2015‣ Previously Principal Consultant at
ThoughtWorks (started in February 2001)‣ First encountered Extreme Programming in
1998
My question to the audience:
What do you do to enable autonomy?
