When you hear about Spotify, the first things that probably come to mind are music, streaming, and podcasts.
But what many don’t know is that this Swedish startup, which quickly became a unicorn, has also revolutionized the world of agile management models . With the creation of the Agile methodology, Spotify has served as an example for thousands of growing technology companies looking to achieve accelerated growth without sacrificing quality or communication in the process.
That’s why we’ve prepared this article, so you can learn a little more about the Agile Model developed by Spotify and begin applying some of these principles in the company you work for or in your own business.
But before getting into the subject, it’s important to put yourself in context and learn a little about the history of this giant in the world of streaming and on-demand music .
History of Spotify
Spotify was founded in 2006 as an initiative by Daniel Ek, a talented 23-year-old Swede, and Martin Lorentzon, founder of the digital marketing leader TradeDoubler . However, it wasn’t until america phone number list October 2008 that they were able to officially launch the platform in some European countries. This delay stemmed primarily from issues with song licensing and copyright issues.
In 2009, Spotify created the mobile app and launched the premium version, eliminating ads for users. It’s important to remember that at that time, it was only possible to have a Spotify account if you received an invitation from another user. By 2011, Spotify began its international expansion plan, choosing the United States as its first country, where it quickly became a huge success. Two years later, the app was present in more than 50 countries, with over 36 million active users.
As you can see, Spotify’s growth and evolution has been a revolution in leaps and bounds. Enjoying your favorite song without having to download it anywhere or listen to annoying ads is an experience that has even changed consumer habits. But how has all this evolution been possible? How have they achieved rapid and sustainable growth? I’ll tell you below.
Spotify’s Agile Model
If you’re reading this post, it’s probably because you’ve already heard of Agile methodology . But if not, don’t worry. We have several full posts on our blog that explain these Agile Management methodologies and what Scrum is .
The Agility model created by Spotify was based on their own needs, as they once felt that Scrum was not 100% suited to their work pace and they also needed a model that could support an exponential growth rate.
Thanks to Spotify, terms like Squads, Tribes , and Chapters have begun to gain traction in the world of agile management, especially for companies working with technology and software segment, automate, improve: how crm helps manage marketing activities development. But was it necessary to create an agility model? Below, we present the reasons why the team decided to adapt a customized process based on their own needs.
Communication:
Most of the problems that began to arise had their origins in communication. Does this sound familiar? The truth is, communication is one of the most common problems facing rapidly growing companies. Transparent, fluid, and multidirectional communication became necessary to carry out large-scale projects and is, according to McKinsey , one of the five traits that distinguish agile organizations.
Speed
With decision-making difficulties, growth speed would also be affected. Achieving synchronization across large teams was a challenge. And small product improvements, or “Quick Wins ,” as Seruya saudi data calls them, were quite difficult to prioritize, even more so if no one owned the problem and didn’t take the initiative to solve it.
In other words, it’s a completely autonomous full-stack team. Some squads work with kanban, others allow remote work, and so on.</p>
Squads, in general, aren’t static formations; they move. Most are for specific projects ; however, there are some that are more permanent, especially those more closely tied to the product, such as infrastructure or maintenance, for example.
To explain it better, let’s use the “ Search” Squad as an example:
This Squad is made up of a <strong>PO (Product Owner), a <strong>UX</strong> (User Experience) designer, a person in charge of the iOS solution, a person for Android, someone for K&M (Keyboard and mouse), a Backend developer and finally an Agile Coach.