From this presentation you will learn how to transition from Component to Squad Teams

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Lessons Learnt: Transitioning from
Component to Squad Teams

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5. Jonathan Wong
T O N I G H T ’ S S P E A K E R
Head of Product

6. Let’s
Squadify!
Lessons Learnt Transitioning from
a Component Team Model to a
Squad-Based Model

7. Hello!
I am Jonathan Wong
● Director of Product at Rakuten Viki
● Ex-Microsoft
● Spent 15 years doing different things in
tech - but first love is still building
entertaining products for users
● @armchairdude on Twitter,
@armchairtheorist everywhere else
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8. Case
Study
Rakuten Viki’s (ongoing) transition
from a component team model to a
squad-based model (2019+)
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9. Refresher:
Component Teams vs. Squads
Component Teams
● Single-purpose teams
organized around
components and/or
functions
● Usually structured as
shared pools of expert
resources
● Usually how new
engineering teams get
started
Squads (i.e. Feature Teams)
● Cross-functional, cross-
component teams
organized around user
scenarios and/or
objectives
● Self-sufficient from
ideation to shipping
● Popularized by Spotify,
Tinder, Grab, etc.

10. Challenges at Viki
(circa 2017)
● Conflicting priorities and negotiation
overhead for resources
● Communication & coordination overhead
across component teams
● Excessive amounts of context switching
● Unclear accountability in certain areas
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11. Step 1: Are squads
the answer?
Consider...
● Company stage
● Company culture
● Company priorities
● Experiment or permanent shift?

12. ● Joint leadership between product lead and
tech lead
● Mix of dedicated and shared resources
● Autonomy to plan, execute and install own
processes
● Governed by squad OKRs
● Separation of squads vs. chapters
Viki Squad
Design Principles

13. Developer Z: “How long do members stay in a squad? What
if I want to work on different things?”
Developer Q: “How do we do code reviews?”
Tech Lead G: “Why are we doing this? Is this just so that we
can get everyone to do more work?”
Developer C: “Do we need to sit together with the squad?”
Eng Manager T: “Do squad members have to be dedicated
resources? Can we pull them out to do other things?”
Developer M: “Who do I report to now?”
Then the questions
started coming...

14. Step 2: Getting buy-in
● Invest the time to answer every concern
and question
● FAQs and Q&A sessions
● Invite the team to be part of the process of
designing the squads
● Commit to running it as an experiment and
determine success criteria
● Start small

15. Operationalizing
the Viki Squad
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1 2 3

16. Step 3: Launch, Test
and Iterate
Tips:
● Seize the momentum - don’t wait too long
for things to happen
● Conduct pre- and post-implementation
survey of squad members
● Retrospective on the experiment at agreed
upon future date

17. Be Ready for
Implementation Challenges
● Waiting for people to become available as
they finish up their current projects
● Defining the right OKRs and having the
squad buy-in
● Creating new processes to support squad-
chapter interactions (e.g. coordination of
app releases, etc.)

18. To summarize...
Step 1:
Decide whether
squads are the right
solution for your
engineering team
(Hint: It may not be.)
Step 2:
Be open and
transparent in
addressing concerns
and questions
Team happiness is the most
important metric to optimize
for.
Step 3:
Commit to trying it
out as an experiment
and be OK to fail fast if
it doesn’t work
Treat process as a product.

19. “The “P” in PM is as much
about ‘PEOPLE’
management as it is
about ‘PROJECT’
management.
-- Cornelius Fichtner

20. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
● Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
● Photographs by Unsplash
● Illustrations by Undraw.co
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