Autonomy does not mean teams get to do whatever they want

  • 5 March 2022
  • 6 replies
  • 60 views
Henrik Ståhl
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

Hello, dear Lean-Agilists!

I recently stumbled upon an article that is almost 2 years old but still highly relevant:

Failed #SquadGoals

Spotify doesn’t use “the Spotify model”
and neither should you.

The TL;DR version is that the Spotify model – based on matrix team structures – was never fully implemented at Spotify for a number of reasons, and yet it's being copied by many companies in various industries.

A lot of things strongly resonates with me. Here are some excerpts:

  • Autonomy requires alignment. Company priorities must be defined by leadership. Autonomy does not mean teams get to do whatever they want.
  • Processes for cross-team collaboration must be defined. Autonomy does not mean leaving teams to self-organize every problem.
  • Collaboration is a skill that requires knowledge and practice. Managers should not assume people have an existing comprehension of Agile practices.
  • When a company becomes big enough, teams will need dedicated support to guide planning within the team and structure collaboration between teams. 
  • Optimize for understanding. Every new thing someone must learn in order to be productive in your organization should be evaluated on its value.

What are your thoughts on this?

6 replies

Kiron Bondale
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

@Henrik Ståhl -

Here’s a similar themed article I’d written a year back: https://kbondale.wordpress.com/2021/08/29/five-factors-required-for-teams-to-self-organize/

Complete autonomy is unrealistic in most organization contexts which is why I like DA’s guideline of “semi-autonomous, self-governing teams”

Kiron

Kiron D. Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, ICP-ACC, DASSM, DAC, DAVSC, PMI-RMP
Henrik Ståhl
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@Kiron Bondale Great article! I especially like the parts about shared understanding of the vision and expected outcomes. I think that's the single most important key success factor – that everyone in a team or product area knows why something is prioritized. That's why we do Product Vision Cues for our main products and services together in my team.

But the way, have you ever considered writing on Medium? 🙂

Kiron Bondale
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Thanks @Henrik Ståhl -

I’ve been on Wordpress since I first started blogging weekly in 2009 and cross-post to LinkedIn and ProjectManagement.com. Between those three communities, I get enough “eyeballs” looking at my articles that I haven’t seen the benefit in expanding to other platforms. Is there a compelling use case for Medium vs the others I’m already on?

Kiron

Kiron D. Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, ICP-ACC, DASSM, DAC, DAVSC, PMI-RMP
Henrik Ståhl
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@Kiron Bondale One huge benefit is SEO – Medium  is a Google darling when it comes to SEO ranking. And the design is very slick. Last but not least, you can earn money for your writing if you join the Medium Partner Program. :)

Kiron Bondale
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Thanks @Henrik Ståhl -

I’ll keep that in mind - like changing your mailing address or your cell phone number, switching to another social platform is a big undertaking so I’ll have to see if the effort is justified.

Kiron

Kiron D. Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, ICP-ACC, DASSM, DAC, DAVSC, PMI-RMP
Henrik Ståhl
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@Kiron Bondale I know the feeling. If you ever do and need support, just let me know and I’ll do my best to help you. :blush:

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