How Spotify Helps Their Engineers Grow - Chris Angove
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August 20, 2014
Climbing off the Ladder, Before we fall off.
How Spotify Helps Their Engineers Grow
1
Who is this Chris Angove person?
Graduated with BS in CS from the University of Michigan
Spent 10 years as a C++ Developer
Started leading in 2005 (reluctantly)
Associate Director of Engineering at Amplify in Brooklyn in 2012
Joined Spotify as a Chapter Lead in 2013
Always been interested in engineering culture and career development
2
Story begins with my father
Worked for 40 years as a machine builder in the automotive world
Quickly became a journeyman, but no interest in management
I used to see our worlds as different, blue collar vs white collar
I am pretty sure I was wrong….
3
Quick Overview of Spotify
4
5
Began with Agile, but process got in the way
At beginning process was vital to creating the team
As we grow, teams tried to figure out how to remain agile
Implement new structure in 2012
Continuously tweaking process
6
Alignment & Autonomy
Henrik Kniberg
Alignment
Do
what I
say!
Autonomy
Do
whateve
r
7
High
Alignmen
t
High
Autonomy
Build a
bridge!
Micromanaging
organization
Indifferent
culture
Entrepreneurial
organization
Chaotic
culture
Authoritative
organization
Conformist
culture
Innovative
organization
Collaborative
culture
We need to
cross the
river Figure out
how!
We need to
cross the
river
Low
Alignmen
t
Low
Autonomy
Hope someone
is working on
the river
problem…
Aligned Autonomy!
Henrik Kniberg
8 Not so original, original idea
PO PO PO
Tribe
Tribe lead
PO PO PO PO
Tribe
Chapter
Chapter
Tribe lead
PO
Chapter
Chapter Guild
9 Reality is Messy!
PO PO PO
Tribe
Tribe lead
PO PO PO PO
Tribe
Tribe lead
PO
Chapter
Chapter Guild
10
Aligned Autonomy - be autonomous, but don’t suboptimize
- Spotify’s mission > Squad’s mission
Henrik Kniberg
11
Mutual respect
My colleagues are
awesome!
Ego
Henrik Kniberg
12
All of this focused on structure of the organization
What about structure of the career path?
The Benefits of the Ladder
13
Walking the usual path
The Linear Ladder
14
Intern
Junior Developer
Senior Software Engineer
Architect
Team Lead
Director of Engineering
VP of Engineering
CTO
15
It’s familiar since it is common to most organizations
The Benefits of the Ladder
16
Each rung is clearly tied to role and responsibility
The Benefits of the Ladder
17
Path of Career Development is Clear
The Benefits of the Ladder
18
Easy to get Resources
The Benefits of the Ladder
19
Value added to the company is obvious to everyone
The Benefits of the Ladder
20
Explicit path for respect and being recognized for achievements
The Benefits of the Ladder
21
Simplicity sometimes has it’s cost
What’s the Danger?
22
Reality is rarely simple, more often it’s messy
What’s wrong with the ladder
23
We have usually preferred to keep structure flat, only defining positions based
on role not seniority
What’s wrong with the ladder
24
The only way to add value is predefined by structure and requires management
What’s wrong with the ladder
25
May not have the skill set or interest for the next level on the ladder
What’s wrong with the ladder
26
No way to try out things, moving down the ladder is difficult
What’s wrong with the ladder
27
Creates a factory to eject people due to limited management positions
What’s wrong with the ladder
28
May promote people beyond their abilities and thus out of the company
What’s wrong with the ladder
29
Ultimately it provides simplicity at the cost of actual career development
What’s wrong with the ladder
30
Assumes plateauing at a specific role is bad and that managers are more
valuable then individual contributors, but why?
What’s wrong with the ladder
31
There has to be a better way!
What’s wrong with the ladder
Right?!?!
32
An increasingly popular approach
Multiple Ladders
33 The Technology Ladder
34
Creates a technology track to reduce skillset/interest mismatches
The Technology Ladder
35
Clearly sets up easy ways to recognize accomplishments
The Technology Ladder
36
Still very clear routes and roles setup as in linear ladder
The Technology Ladder
37
Familiar and usually the only thing people know, culturally ingrained
The Technology Ladder
38
But….
The Technology Ladder
39
Limited as it still sets up explicit expectations and paths that may not
accommodate all
The Technology Ladder
40
Usually gets muddled (http://bit.ly/1oS7H9l)
The Technology Ladder
41
Still assumes that the only way to grow is through more responsibility/influence
The Technology Ladder
42
Does not answer how to experiment and switch roles
The Technology Ladder
43
Can be part of the solution and at some scale necessary
The Technology Ladder
44
Spotify is currently exploring but it is challenging, no one size to fit all
The Technology Ladder
45
Career development is hard
Optimizing for the right things
46
What are people looking for with “promotions”?
A nonlinear model
47
Mastery
The urge to get better at something
A nonlinear model
48
Autonomy
The desire to make our own decisions
A nonlinear model
49
Recognition
Recognition and respect for adding value to the company
A nonlinear model
50
Compensation
The desire to get paid for the value added to the organization
A nonlinear model
51
The problem is career ladders generally only concentrate on the recognition and
compensation
A nonlinear model
52
It’s a blunt tool that may work for many but does leave some behind
A nonlinear model
53
We need to optimize for the best career development not the easiest
A nonlinear model
54
Loops and Add-Ons
A non-linear approach
55
Loops are tools to help direct career development paths
A nonlinear model
56
Employee driven not manager driven
A nonlinear model
57
Non-anonymous peer feedback, manager feedback and self evaluation drives a
discussion on direction
A nonlinear model
58
Loops are not tied to salary reviews (but can influence)
A nonlinear model
59
Add-Ons are ways to expand your existing role
A nonlinear model
60 A nonlinear model
61
Roles defined by institutional need, not career advancement
A nonlinear model
62
Moving to management is not a promotion
A nonlinear model
63
Add-ons add both personal as well as business value
A nonlinear model
64
Interest and skill-set define which add-on the individual contributor chooses
A nonlinear model
65
It is engineer driven but supported by the company
A nonlinear model
Manager works with the engineer
Trainings, sessions, workshops provided as needed
Time off to participate in events approved
66
Driving forces:
A nonlinear model
67
Do things; tell people
A nonlinear model
You’re doing cool stuff that others would benefit from hearing about
You’re passionate about something and you’d like to see more of it
You’d like recognition for your efforts
68
Try Something New
A nonlinear model
Work is great but getting a little bored
You’d like to try something new, but not stop what you are doing
Not sure you want to risk switching roles completely
69
Get out of the Comfort Zone
A nonlinear model
You’d like to acquire new skills
You need to push yourself in a new direction
Shake things up to see what latent skills are there
70
Employee chooses add-ons or creates a new one:
A nonlinear model
Define Goal
Define Success Metrics
Define Help Needed
71
A Few Examples
A nonlinear model
Speaker
Trainer
Coach
Mentor
Writer
Architect
Evangelist
Road Manager
Open Sourcer
72
This is a work in progress
A nonlinear model
Testing our hypothesis now
Initial steps in 2013 were a bit slow to adopt
But we’re refining, check back with us soon!
73
This is not solved we need to innovate
Yes this is a call to action!
Email me cangove@spotify.com
What are your ideas?
74
Check out spotify.com/jobs or
@Spotifyjobs for more information.
Want to join the band?
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