How healthy is your squad?
The Squad Health Check is adapted from the model Spotify shared publicly in 2014 for its agile squads. Each person rates 11 areas of squad life, including Delivering Value, Health of Codebase, Fun, Mission and Pawns or Players, on a simple three-point scale. Because everyone rates on their own first, the results show where the squad agrees and where it doesn't, and that gap is usually the conversation worth having. Run it every month or quarter to see trends over time, and compare squads to spot where one needs support without flattening the differences between teams.
Dimensions
Squad Health
The core dimensions of squad health, spanning what the team delivers, how it works, and how it feels to be part of the squad.
Delivering Value
How proud the squad is of what it delivers and how happy stakeholders are with the results.
- We deliver crap and feel ashamed
- Mixed results
- We deliver great stuff we're proud of
Easy to Release
How simple, safe, and automated it is for the squad to ship its work to production.
- Risky, painful, manual
- Some manual effort
- Simple, safe, automated
Fun
How much the squad enjoys coming to work and collaborating together.
- Boring and joyless
- Sometimes fun
- We love working together
Health of Codebase
How clean, readable, and well-tested the squad's code is, and how much technical debt it carries.
- A pile of technical debt
- Some rough edges
- Clean, tested, and proud of it
Learning
How much time and opportunity the squad has to learn new and interesting things.
- No time to learn
- Occasional learning
- Always learning new things
Mission
How clear and inspiring the squad finds its higher purpose and focus.
- Unclear and uninspiring
- Somewhat clear
- Clear and exciting
Pawns or Players
How much control the squad has over what it builds and how it builds it.
- Just pawns, no influence
- Some influence
- In control of our destiny
Speed
How quickly the squad gets work done without waiting, delays, or blocking dependencies.
- Always stuck or delayed
- Some delays
- We get stuff done fast
Suitable Process
How well the squad's way of working fits the team and the work it does.
- Our process sucks
- Process is okay
- Our process fits perfectly
Support
How readily the squad gets the help and support it needs when it asks for it.
- Can't get help
- Support is hit or miss
- Always well supported
Team Work
How well the squad collaborates and looks out for one another as a team.
- Disconnected individuals
- Some collaboration
- A gelled super-team
When to use this health check
- Run it on a regular rhythm, such as every sprint or quarter, to see how morale and delivery health trend over time.
- Use it before a retrospective to find the areas where the squad most needs help, then pick one to work on.
- Run it across several squads so you can spot patterns while respecting each team's context.
- Use it when a new team forms or reorganizes, to set a baseline for how things feel.
Tips & tricks
- Have everyone rate on their own before any discussion, so the loudest voice doesn't set the score.
- Start the discussion with the dimensions where scores vary most. Disagreement usually points to the best conversation.
- Look at trends over several rounds. One snapshot is a reading, not a verdict.
- Pair each low score with one concrete action and an owner, so the check leads to change.
- Keep ratings anonymous, especially for Fun, Support and Mission, where people are least likely to be candid.