At Spotify, work happens in squads, small teams of about 6 to 12 people with a mix of skills. Squads working in the same area are grouped into tribes. Each squad has a product owner who decides what gets built and in what order, while the team decides how to build it. That gives the PM real power. The downside is that splitting the “what” from the “how” sometimes led to fights over who set priorities.
Airbnb took the opposite path. When the pandemic hit, Brian Chesky went through every roadmap, cut most of it, and took over the big decisions himself. The company also merged product management with product marketing and made designers equal to PMs. At Airbnb, the PM mostly helps shape and explain a vision that comes from the top.
Zappos went furthest. It replaced departments with holacracy and ended up with about 460 circles and 4,700 roles. There’s no PM title. In each circle, a “lead link” decides who fills which roles and guides strategy, so product power goes to whoever holds that role. It was a big adjustment, and around 14% of employees left.
I’d pick Spotify, with a bit more alignment across teams. Owning a clear mission and having a real say in priorities is the fastest way to grow as a PM. Airbnb would be interesting as well, but the big calls wouldn’t be mine, and Zappos seems a little too disorganized for me.
