My lesson learned about 10 months experience with Tribe Squad model. What I've learned so far, what traps, and how we solve many problems along the way.

1. 10 Months with
Tribe / Squads
& What I’ve learned so far…

2. 10 Months
with Tribe/Squad
What’ve I learned so far…
It’s a trap. Don’t
come this way!!!

3. Who am i?
• Olarn Ungumnuayporn
• Work for ODDS.
• Scrum Master / Agile Coach
Agile Practitioner
• Certified ScrumMaster,
LeSS, Kanban

4. Disclaimer #1
I will tell only what I can.
Focus on Lesson Learned
and just that.

5. Disclaimer #2
Every decision we made are
based on the limitation
at that time.

6. Disclaimer #3
My point of view may be wrong.
Don’t trust me.

8. Spotify Engineering Culture
• The Spotify Agile Model (Engineering Culture) adopt from Scrum to scaling
multi-self-organizing teams.
• It needs maturity and strong continuous-improvement culture.

9. 1/2
Part 1

10. 2/2
Part 2

11. Lesson Learned #1
Spotify Engineering Culture composed
good engineering practices,
experiment & learn process, with fail-
friendly culture, that focus on very
clear
what is their product.
Can we copy it?

12. PO
Squad
Members
Product
&
Features
Tribe Lead
Direction,
Culture,
Motivation, etc.
Chapter
Lead
Standardi
ze &
Policies
IT Supports
Issues,
SLA
Agile Coach
Agile, Mindset,
Ceremony , etc.
BUs
Requests,
Complain,
etc.
Management
Deadline,
Budget, etc.
Legacy, Tech
Dept., Obsoleted
Tech.
Tune up,
Migration, New
things to learn
Solution,
Integration with
another teams,
etc.
No
Time!!!
Too many things
in a very short period time.

13. Doing multiple teams
at the same time.
TL
PO
Development
Team
SA
Squad A
PO
Development
Team
SA
Squad B
PO
Development
Team
SA
Squad (N)
. . .CL
Agile Coach
CL
Ouch!!!
??
?
?
??
?
?
?
?
?
??

14. Cross-functional Structure
TL
PO
Development
Team
SA
Squad A
PO
Development
Team
SA
Squad B
PO
Development
Team
SA
Squad (N)
. . .CL
Agile Coach
CL
BUs BUs BUs
. . . BUs Focused

15. Business Unit Focused
PO Development
Team
SABUs
Squad A
BUs
@#$%&*#
@!
PO Development
Team
SA
Squad B
OK
OK
BUs
@#$%&*#
@!
OK
BUs
@#$%&*#
@!
OK
Ha? 💀
BUs
BUs
What do we missed?

16. Look Closely

17. Lesson Learned #2
Spotify Engineering Culture is for
Scaling Agile Team
that value on
Community over Structure, and more,
NOT just grouping
multiple Agile Teams together.
That’s not Agile.

18. Lesson Learned #3
Scaling Agile Team
≠
Group of Agile Teams

19. Lesson Learned #3 v.2
Multi-Team Scrum
≠
Multi-Scrum Teams

20. So, what we’ve
done so far?

21. Requests from Business Units
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD

22. Prioritization
https://www.eisenhower.me/eisenhower-matrix/

23. Demand Management
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD
Tribe Lead
Do it ASAPPrioritization
& Plan
High-Level
Management
Tribe Product Backlog

24. Increase Visibility
SQUAD
SQUAD
Tribe Lead
SQUAD
Product Backlog
QUEUE
PO
PO
SQUAD
SQUAD
PO
PO
SQUADPO

25. The Same Cadence
Tribe Lead
Product
Backlog
SquadPO
PO
PO
PO
PO
Squad
Squad
Squad
Squad

26. Multi-Level Alignment
Tribe Level
Output / Outcome
Business
Alignment
Level
Direction, Business
Direction, Strategy
🏁 🏁
Squad
Level
Sprint, Goal

27. Flight Levels
Prioritized DOING
DONE (2019)
TL
CL
Initial
Flight LEVEL 2
Flight LEVEL 1
Alliance
Lead
Super
PO
Management
To be discuss
Deferred
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Squad A
Squad B
Squad C
Squad D
...

28. Lesson Learned #4
Don’t be a child who got a
hammer on Christmas Day.

29. Technical Debt

30. Normal Sprint
Sprint Backlog
TODO DOING DONE

31. Issues?
Sprint Backlog
TODO DOING DONE
Bugs
Requests
Tech Debt
Deliver as
committed
Not Deliver
‘cause adhoc.

32. Issues?
Sprint Backlog
TODO DOING DONE
FEATURESISSUES

33. Handle with Tech Dept.
Sprint Backlog
TODO DOING DONE
FEATURESISSUES
Tech
Debt.

34. Lesson Learned #6
You should not ignore
technical debt…
Fix its LATER == NEVER be fixed

35. NEXT STEP

36. The Next Problem
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD
SQUAD
Tribe Lead
SQUAD
Product Backlog
QUEUE
???

37. Tribe Lead
Doing Scrum @ Scale
Not Scale Scrum Team
Product
Backlog
Feature TeamPO
PO
PO
PO
PO
Feature Team
Feature Team
Feature Team
Feature Team
Product
Owner

38. Guideline: Large Scale Scrum

39. Guideline: Flight Levels

40. Conclusion

41. Agile Coach
My Toolbox
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.
Simplicity — the art of maximizing the amount
of work not done — is essential.
Starting work spend money, only finished
work make money!!!
Large inventory introduce cost and delay.
Stop starting, Start finishing.
Working
Software
Comprehensive
Documentation
over
Customer
Collaboration
Contract
Negotiation
over

42. Lesson Learned
• Scaling Agile Team ≠ Sum of Agile Teams
• Agile process is based on experiment & learn, you cannot
copy/paste then expecting it just work.
• Technical debt reduce agility and may take business down.
DONOT underestimate its. Apply “Stop & Fix” practice.
• Every transition take times (based on teams skills,
organization’s culture, etc). Don’t be rush.
• It is an ongoing journey, not the complete picture.
Keep motivating and learning.

43. Topics not covered
• Application designed that solved the complex requirements.
• User Story Mapping & User Journey workshops that solve
business problems without a single line of code.
• Team Guardians. How to protect team from C&C
management.
• Kanban at team level in details and what’re I learned so far.
• As an Agile Coach / Scrum Master, how to survive in the
complex organizational environment.

44. Disclaimer #last
My solutions may not work with
your problems.
Copy/paste will never work.
Encourage to apply experiment & learn
by yourself.

45. References
• Spotify Engineering Culture
https://labs.spotify.com/2014/03/27/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1/
Videos :-
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj5y-6AoYfM
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6gQuVCHJ1Q
• LeSS by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde
https://less.works
Video :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7mzpKHOAHs
• Flight Level by Klaus Leopold
https://www.leanability.com/en/blog-en/2017/04/flight-levels-the-
organizational-improvement-levels/