Spotify has squads and tribes. With squads being a group of people who essentially act as a startup within Spotify and are all given a mission. The PM’s here would work as a mini-CEO and report to the tribe leader. “Tribe leaders” are those who overlook multiple “squads”. I really like the idea of working in small teams as “startups,” Unfortunately, I feel that the structure is a bit too fragmented. The plus, in my opinion, of working in a large organization is getting work with a wide variety of people and work together to solve one central mission, and that’s why I do not think I would enjoy working at Spotify.
Image from: https://cc-bei.news/en/why-spotify-did-not-use-the-spotify-model/
AirBnB has a unique stance on product management. That being they don’t think they should exist… Chesky recently explained how AirBnB “killed” the classic PM job through focusing on product marketing instead. In some ways, I see where he is coming from, because engineers can potentially do the job of the product managers as well, but I do feel like you need someone working cross functionally. I don’t think I could work there, since they don’t have the role I am interested in, working as an actual product manager.
Image from https://shorts.growthx.club/p/why-is-airbnb-killing-the-pm-function
Zappos originally ran a holocracy, with no job titles or managers. No person holds a specific title, but rather specific roles for a given team. Rather than departments, they have circles which is a group of people working towards a shared goal. And instead of managers who decide compensation and pay, they have Lead Links, who essentially do the work of managers but with less power. I just don’t think I could work at a company like this; a large company trying to act like a start up. I will say I could not work here.
