Using Self-Selection to Create Journey Teams at Avvo

It Depends: Lessons in Technology Leadership

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