In 2012, Henrik Kniberg, a consultant at Spotify, along with another consultant, designed and executed the organizational structure called the “Spotify Model”. This concept is nothing more than the organizational culture that the company would start to apply internally.
To better understand the famous “Spotify Model”, check out this content here and also this one from our Training area, the Agile School.
In order to arrive at the model we know today, Henrik enumerated four fundamental elements for the structure to work. They are:
- The heart of this model, which are the Squads;
- The Tribes, which are nothing more than sets of Squads, directed to a single theme;
- Chapters and Guilds, which are the support and horizontal structures.
It may seem that the structure that Henrik describes is a matrix structure, in which companies have been doing and organizing themselves for many years… However, the way this format was applied within Spotify was vertically, that is, it was an organizational culture focused on the format of Squads – where the structure is oriented to values and autonomy.
It is also interesting to point out within this theme that Squads are inspired by Scrum teams, and Scrum teams themselves are inspired by “The New New Development Product Game” – an article from the 80s that talks about innovative companies like 3M, Epson, Honda, among others that, at that time, already organized their teams in cross-functional ways, with a clear and specific mission, among other characteristics.
But how are the Chapters structured?
The chapters are nothing more than the sum of people in similar roles and their main objective is to support that function. For example, if each Squad has a developer, as shown in the chapter below, there will be different developers in that tribe. With this you create a chapter of developers so that people can support each other, help, exchange experiences and knowledge.
To be clearer what each of these structures really is, check out the image below.
The benefits of Chapters in companies
We can understand that it is in the Squads that the work is, in fact, being applied daily, right? But to make this work even more in tune and standardized, Henrik used the Chapters format to help all people who play a certain role within the teams to grow within that specific knowledge.
The main benefits of the Chapter structure within organizations are:
- Exchange of information, excellence in knowledge and focus on growth and quality;
- Creation of standards for the creation, planning and execution processes;
- Assistance in solving problems, bugs, failures, etc;
It is important to emphasize that within this Chapter there must be a leader (Chapter Lead) to guide, designate and assist the rest of the members of this structure. In addition to making career plans, planning bonuses, dismissals or hiring, this leadership will understand the needs in general, support professionals on a daily basis and develop their capabilities.
Why create an Agility chapter in organizations?
Companies that are working on their digital transformation processes and are looking to become more agile can adopt the Agility chapter format for their organizations precisely to leverage the adoption of agile practices in the organization as a whole.
This is all because the Agility specialist usually works alone, that is, he does not have people within his team and/or squad acting in the same role as him to discuss situations or to support himself when something needs help. A chapter becomes indispensable to raise the level of knowledge and application of Agility in everyday life.
The chapter can also help in systemic situations, that is, in complexities that are outside that Agilist’s team, for example, in more strategic and less operational situations. This happens a lot in companies that are starting to apply agile methods and need greater support in expanding this culture within the company.
To finish…
Now that we understand why creating and maintaining an Agility Chapter, it’s time to put it into practice. There are a few steps you can take to have a successful chapter.
- Have a chapter leader who supports and facilitates the day to day of the teams;
- Have a specific communication channel for the chapter to share information and learning, in addition to periodic meetings;
- It is a structure that observes each one’s career and this growth plan, whether with follow-up and mentoring, and/or training and study groups.
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