Spotify tailoring for architectural governance

Abstract

Organisations usually tailor Agile methods to fit their needs best. Spotify has developed its own Agile culture to facilitate software development for hundreds of developers across multiple cities. The Spotify model has become influential among agile proponents and hence formed the basis of methods used in other organisations. We have identified a lack of research into agile architecture using the Spotify model. To explore How can architectural governance increase the autonomy of teams when using the Spotify model?, an intervention embedded case study was conducted in a multinational FinTech organisation, using the Spotify model. New processes were introduced by developing and evaluating an approach to Agile architectural governance. This approach incorporates a structural change and a change management process. We conducted 6 semi-structured open-ended interviews and direct observations of Agile practices. The collected data was analysed using Thematic Analysis and informed by some Grounded Theory techniques. The practitioners in our study report benefits of this evaluated approach. These benefits include transforming architectural based decision into decentralised based decision-making, strengthening the autonomy of squads through aligning architectural based decisions, sharing the architectural knowledge among the squads, and other benefits. We identify the characteristics and benefits of our evaluated approach to Agile architectural governance using the Spotify model. Also, we identify guidelines and challenges for those wishing to adopt this approach.