Spotify Engineering Culture - Part 2 (aka the 'Spotify Model')

This video is a snapshot of Spotify's approach to software enginering and people management in 2014. It has since come to be known as the "Spotify Model".

I put it on Vimeo originally, but that account has some issues so I put a copy here.

DISCLAIMER: This video is a historical account from 2014. It is not maintained or updated, so it is not a description of how Spotify works today.

Many people ask which tools were used. I hand-drew everything in ArtRage using a Wacom drawing tablet, and recorded the drawing and speaking using ScreenFlow.

Full drawing:

Here is part 1:

Original blog post:

Want to translate this? You can contribute subtitles in your language here:

[khengwahkoh]

Still contains many relevant learnings for organisations today. Will be interesting to get some updates on what have changed in Spotify since this video was made in 2014.

[tizcxvb]

FYI, I work at Spotify as a software engineer; the organisation has become very bureaucratic in many ways, hence why the best talent left

[HartmutGoetze]

Another brillant visualization for the world. Thanks so much, Henrik 🙏❤️

[lecemotta]

Another fantastic video. You are so good in drawing and story telling. So clear and to the point! Congrats!

[brouno]

Great story telling. Your videos are quite helpful, it helped me in cracking interviews earlier and now in the boots of an agile coach it is helping me in learning new ways of managing the agile team

[robincarry]

Fantastic video - Question: How do your squad / tribes work cross timezones? Would you make video of how your culture evolved with COVID times? Also, How do you handle for squad/tribes which do not share information?

[jf]

Enjoyed it very much. Thanks! Would love to see a series of small videos with details on how you do these things. It would strongly help people to adapt to this way of working.

[xKobby_dev]

Your videos are so informative! Thanks so much for sharing.

[hasankaval]

Perfect visualization and crystal clear explanation...Thanks for sharing

[RunningJuan]

Great video and perfect drawing of clear explanation. I really like those hand drawing styles. BTW what is the software to record such a video? Of all those likes and colors? Is that iPad Pro?

[patriciafachinipontalti]

AWESOME, So many insights and things to get inspired

[AlanDantaslife]

Amazing content and inspiring presentation!! Thanks for sharing.

[irenesebastian]

Hello Henrik. With COVID, the new normal and working remotely, what changes have you made now that you don't have boardrooms to go to, whiteboards, or physical storytelling sessions? Do you have a video on this?

[prospectorbob]

Interesting way to organize teams into “guilds” and “squads” to help reinforce desired culture.

[paulleeming]

Interesting. I wander how you [Spotify] are getting on with lock down and home working? Especially the impact of separation on culture.

[matthewlewis]

Great stuff, ideas, and I appreciate how you emphasize the process over the organization or particular contingencies. And there are doozers in your dial-a-song pic! (How many TMBG fans are over there?)

[harty]

Really Interesting - if only more companies could adopt some of thee concepts

[yuriimakukha]

Thanks for the video!
What about deadlines? And who rules the people, who give the direction? What is the hierarchy (who is above the tribe)?
Thanks!

[philipperdmann]

the link full drawing of part 2 is not working. On the blog there's also only part 1 :(
edit: found the posts on Crisp - there are the drawings

[v.deepak]

Data driven decisions instead of opinion-driven or ego-driven or authority-driven. Chaos > Bureaucracy!