Episodes
7 days ago
7 days ago
As major tech companies retreat from their commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, startups can lead the way. In this episode, Kevin Goldsmith explores why diverse teams consistently build better products and create stronger, more effective workplaces. He reflects on personal experiences in leadership, shares insights on how startups can leverage the "law of small numbers" to make a meaningful impact, and explains why prioritizing diversity isn't just the right thing to do—it’s also smart business.
Tune in to hear why building an inclusive team can be a competitive advantage and get a preview of the next episode’s discussion on practical strategies for hiring a diverse tech team.
- Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
- The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
- Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
- This chapter in the newsletter: https://kevingoldsmith.substack.com/p/a-diversity-challenge-tech-start
Sunday Jan 19, 2025
Building a Management Training Curriculum at Avvo
Sunday Jan 19, 2025
Sunday Jan 19, 2025
In Episode 27 of It Depends: Lessons in Technology Leadership, Kevin Goldsmith explores the process of creating a management training curriculum at Avvo. Reflecting on his journey as a manager and lessons learned from his early days at Microsoft and Adobe, Kevin highlights the importance of intentional training for engineering managers. This episode delves into the innovative approach used at Avvo, including collaborative exercises to identify training priorities and designing tailored development programs to support technology leaders.
Discover actionable insights on fostering a strong management culture, balancing technical and managerial responsibilities, and creating effective learning experiences for teams. Whether you're an aspiring manager, an experienced leader, or part of a team looking to improve, this episode offers practical guidance and inspiration. Tune in to learn how to build a management training framework that elevates your organization!
- Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
- The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
- Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
- This chapter in the newsletter: https://kevingoldsmith.substack.com/p/building-a-management-training-curriculum
Sunday Jan 05, 2025
Using Self-Selection to Create Journey Teams at Avvo
Sunday Jan 05, 2025
Sunday Jan 05, 2025
In this insightful episode of The It Depends Podcast, host Kevin Goldsmith, seasoned CTO and author, takes listeners behind the scenes of his first CTO role at Avvo, a legal tech company. Kevin shares his real-world experience in transforming the organizational structure by introducing journey teams—an innovative approach influenced by, but distinct from, Spotify’s model. He discusses the challenges of managing small teams, the necessity of fostering team autonomy while maintaining accountability, and the crucial role of leadership in balancing top-down constraints with bottom-up ownership.
Kevin dives into the process of moving from a traditional hierarchy to a matrix organization and ultimately to journey teams. He explains how self-selection played a key role in empowering teams, fostering engagement, and driving sustainable growth in a fast-scaling company. Listeners will gain practical insights into building adaptable organizational structures tailored to company culture, evolving leadership styles, and scaling strategies for tech teams.
If you’re a technology leader navigating team scaling, culture transformation, or thinking of adopting self-selection and journey teams in your organization, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways.
- Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
- The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
- Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
- This chapter in the newsletter: https://kevingoldsmith.substack.com/p/using-self-selection-to-create-journey
Sunday Dec 22, 2024
Thoughts on emulating Spotify’s matrix organization in other companies
Sunday Dec 22, 2024
Sunday Dec 22, 2024
In this episode of It Depends, host Kevin Goldsmith, a seasoned technology leader and CTO, explores the intricacies of Spotify's famed matrix organization model and its applicability to other companies. Drawing from his firsthand experiences at Spotify during its formative years, Kevin delves into the successes and challenges of implementing the Spotify model, addressing common misconceptions and the cultural nuances that influence its effectiveness.
Kevin recounts how the model's flexibility and autonomy transformed team dynamics and how its structure has been adapted (or misapplied) by other companies. He also discusses how the U.S. workplace culture, rooted in individualism, impacted the adoption of Spotify’s collaborative team-oriented practices. The episode is filled with insights on organizational scaling, the benefits of full-stack teams, and the pivotal role of company-specific cultural alignment in applying the model.
- Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
- The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
- Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
- Interviews with Kevin (about the Spotify model and other things): https://www.kevingoldsmith.com/resume.html#interviews
- For your start of year planning: The Personal Strategy Off-site, Own your Calendar
- The newsletter issue with the text of this chapter: https://kevingoldsmith.substack.com/p/thoughts-on-emulating-spotifys-matrix
- The Spotify Model Whitepaper: https://blog.crisp.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SpotifyScaling.pdf
Sunday Dec 08, 2024
Sunday Dec 08, 2024
In this episode of It Depends, host Kevin Goldsmith dives into Chapter 26 of his book It Depends: Writing on Technology Leadership 2012–2022. Kevin shares his firsthand experiences with the Spotify model—a revolutionary approach to team organization designed to foster agility, innovation, and collaboration.
Drawing on his years at Spotify, Kevin explains how the model allows teams to dynamically form, dissolve, and remix based on company needs. He also addresses some common misconceptions about its application and reflects on lessons learned from the Spotify model and how to adapt its principles to other organizations.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the accompanying newsletter and share your thoughts via the linked listener survey to help shape the future of the podcast!
Links to things mentioned in the podcast:
- Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
- The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
- Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
- The newsletter issue with the text of this chapter: https://kevingoldsmith.substack.com/p/the-spotify-model
- The Spotify Model Whitepaper: https://blog.crisp.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SpotifyScaling.pdf
- The Spotify Model videos: https://blog.crisp.se/2014/03/27/henrikkniberg/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1
- Spotify Q3 2024 Numbers (640 MAU): https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/spotify-q3-2024-earnings-premium-subscribers-1236207771/
Sunday Nov 24, 2024
Transcript of my speech from OPEX Week Summer 2018
Sunday Nov 24, 2024
Sunday Nov 24, 2024
Kevin Goldsmith, Chief Technology Officer and author of It Depends: Writing on Technology Leadership (2012–2022), shares a unique chapter from his audiobook in this episode of It Depends. Recorded on the road in Chicago, Kevin reflects on his unexpected journey into the Operational Excellence (OpEx) community, a world rooted in Six Sigma and Lean methodologies.
Kevin recounts his experiences speaking at OpEx conferences and collaborating with leaders in industries where quality is critical, such as manufacturing and hardware. He highlights the contrasts between OpEx's failure-averse approach and Agile's embrace of learning through small, manageable failures. Through engaging anecdotes and lessons learned, Kevin emphasizes stepping outside your comfort zone to engage with professionals in different fields.
This episode offers valuable insights for leaders in technology and beyond. It explores how diverse perspectives can challenge assumptions and foster growth. Tune in to learn how principles of operational excellence can complement tech leadership while avoiding the pitfalls of over-applying rigid frameworks.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the accompanying newsletter and share your thoughts via the linked listener survey to help shape the future of the podcast!
Links to things mentioned in the podcast:
- Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
- The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
- Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
- The It Depends Newsletter
Sunday Nov 10, 2024
Hiring Agile Coaches
Sunday Nov 10, 2024
Sunday Nov 10, 2024
In this episode of The It Depends Podcast, host Kevin Goldsmith dives into the intricacies of hiring agile coaches—a role he discovered while working at Spotify and which has been transformative in his approach to building high-performing teams. Kevin shares personal stories of successes and challenges with agile coaches across different companies, reflecting on how this role can dramatically boost productivity and collaboration, although sometimes misunderstood. He also explores the current state of Agile and muses on what might come next for the industry. Tune in to learn about the nuances of agile coaching, the evolution of Agile, and strategies for demonstrating the value of agile practices beyond the engineering team.
Links to things mentioned in the podcast:
- The Humanizing Work Show: https://www.humanizingwork.com/kevin-goldsmith/
- Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
- The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
- This chapter in the newsletter
- Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
- The It Depends Newsletter
Sunday Oct 27, 2024
Management and Systems Thinking
Sunday Oct 27, 2024
Sunday Oct 27, 2024
In this episode of It Depends host Kevin Goldsmith dives into the art of management through the lens of systems thinking. Using the metaphor of gardening, Kevin explores how leaders can “plant the seeds” for success by setting up the right environment, empowering teams, and stepping back to let growth happen organically. He shares practical insights on Kanban boards, the power of autonomy, and the challenges of fostering alignment across teams with different goals. Whether you're a seasoned leader or just stepping into management, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you cultivate high-performing teams. 🌱
Links to things mentioned in the podcast:
- Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/JVeKHsHJKhEM3dvK6
- The book: It Depends: Writing on Technology 2012-2022
- Your host: Kevin Goldsmith
- The It Depends Newsletter
- Management 3.0
- Thinking in Systems
- Architecture and Organization

It Depends Podcast
Each episode Kevin shares a chapter from his book, "It Depends: Writing on Technology Leadership 2012-2022". Each episode provides insights and lessons from thirty years as a developer and leader at companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Adobe, Spotify, and startups of all sizes from three people to four hundred.