Spotify Squad Health Check: Team Assessment Model for Agile Teams

The Spotify Squad Health Check is a team self-assessment model developed at Spotify to help agile teams evaluate their health across multiple dimensions. Unlike traditional retrospectives that focus on recent events, the Health Check provides a structured way to assess overall team functioning and track improvement over time.

If your team needs a comprehensive health assessment or wants to identify systemic issues beyond sprint-specific problems, the Spotify model delivers actionable insights across the areas that matter most.

What Is the Spotify Squad Health Check?

The Spotify Squad Health Check uses a traffic light system (green/yellow/red) to assess team health across predefined dimensions:

Color	Meaning	Trend
🟢 Green	Awesome	Things are going well
🟡 Yellow	Some problems	There are issues to address
🔴 Red	Needs attention	Significant problems
⬆️ Improving	Getting better	Positive trend
➡️ Stable	No change	Maintaining
⬇️ Declining	Getting worse	Negative trend

The combination of current state (color) and trend (arrow) gives a nuanced picture of team health.

The Original Spotify Health Check Dimensions

Spotify’s original model includes these dimensions:

Dimension	Awesome (Green)	Needs Attention (Red)
Easy to Release	Releasing is simple, safe, painless	Releasing is risky, painful, lots of manual work
Suitable Process	Our process fits us perfectly	Our way of working sucks
Tech Quality	Proud of our code, clean and well-tested	Our code is a mess, technical debt everywhere
Value	We deliver great stuff! Proud of it	We deliver crap. Ashamed of it
Speed	We get stuff done fast, no waiting	We never seem to finish anything, always blocked
Mission	We know exactly why we exist	We’ve no idea why we exist
Fun	We love our work and have fun together	Boring work, no fun
Learning	We’re learning lots of interesting stuff	We never have time to learn anything
Support	We always get great help when needed	We’re always blocked by dependencies, no help
Pawns or Players	We control our own destiny	We’re just pawns, pushed around
Teamwork	We’re a team, collaborating well	We’re a group of individuals, not a team

Why the Spotify Health Check Works

Structured Assessment

Unlike free-form retrospectives:

Consistent dimensions enable tracking over time
Traffic light system makes status immediately visible
Trend indicators show direction of change
Predefined categories ensure comprehensive coverage

Enables Comparison

The structured format allows:

Comparing health across multiple teams
Tracking team improvement over quarters
Identifying organization-wide patterns
Benchmarking against previous assessments

Balances Multiple Factors

The model covers:

Technical health (code quality, releases)
Process health (suitable process, speed)
Team dynamics (fun, teamwork)
Organizational alignment (mission, autonomy)
Growth (learning, support)

Conversation Starter

Each dimension sparks discussion:

“Why did you rate Fun as yellow?”
“What would make Tech Quality green?”
“Is the Mission clear to everyone?”

How to Run a Spotify Squad Health Check

Before the Session

Preparation:

Schedule 60-90 minutes
Prepare cards or digital board with all dimensions
Include “Awesome” and “Needs Attention” definitions for each
Review previous health check results if available
Prepare voting mechanism (colored cards or digital)

Step-by-Step Facilitation

Step 1: Set the Stage (5 minutes)

Introduce the format:

“Today we’re doing a Squad Health Check. We’ll assess our team health across 11 dimensions using traffic light colors:

🟢 Green — Awesome, this area is working well

🟡 Yellow — Some issues, but manageable

🔴 Red — Significant problems needing attention

For each dimension, we’ll also note if things are improving, stable, or declining.”

Step 2: Explain Dimensions (10 minutes)

Go through each dimension briefly:

For each, share:

The dimension name
What “Awesome” looks like
What “Needs Attention” looks like

Example:

“Easy to Release: Green means releasing is simple and painless. Red means it’s risky with lots of manual work. Where do we land?”

Step 3: Individual Assessment (10 minutes)

Have each team member privately rate all dimensions:

Dimension	Your Rating	Trend
Easy to Release	🟢/🟡/🔴	⬆️/➡️/⬇️
Suitable Process	🟢/🟡/🔴	⬆️/➡️/⬇️
Tech Quality	🟢/🟡/🔴	⬆️/➡️/⬇️
…	…	…

Methods:

Physical colored cards held up simultaneously
Digital voting tools
Anonymous survey beforehand

💡 RetroFlow supports health check templates—free, no signup required.

Step 4: Reveal and Discuss (30-40 minutes)

Go through each dimension:

For each dimension:

Everyone reveals their vote simultaneously
Note the distribution (e.g., “3 green, 2 yellow, 1 red”)
Discuss differences: “Why did some rate this red?”
Agree on team consensus rating
Discuss trend: “Is this improving, stable, or declining?”

Prioritize discussion time:

Spend more time on red/yellow items
Quickly acknowledge unanimous green items
Focus on dimensions with disagreement

Discussion questions:

“What would need to change for this to be green?”
“Why do some see this differently?”
“Is this getting better or worse?”

Step 5: Identify Patterns (10 minutes)

After rating all dimensions, look for patterns:

Clusters: “Tech Quality, Easy to Release, and Speed are all yellow—connected?”
Bright spots: “Teamwork and Fun are green—what’s working?”
Concerning trends: “Three dimensions are declining”

Step 6: Select Focus Areas (10 minutes)

Choose 2-3 dimensions to focus on:

Criteria for selection:

Red items needing immediate attention
Yellow items with declining trends
Areas with quick wins available

For each selected area, define:

What would make this green?
What specific actions can we take?
How will we measure improvement?

Step 7: Close (5 minutes)

Summarize selected focus areas
Document results for comparison next time
Schedule follow-up health check (typically quarterly)

Spotify Health Check Template

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    SQUAD HEALTH CHECK                                 │
│                    Date: ___________                                  │
├──────────────────────┬────────┬───────┬─────────────────────────────┤
│ Dimension            │ Rating │ Trend │ Notes                       │
├──────────────────────┼────────┼───────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ Easy to Release      │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Suitable Process     │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Tech Quality         │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Value                │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Speed                │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Mission              │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Fun                  │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Learning             │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Support              │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Pawns or Players     │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
│ Teamwork             │ 🟢🟡🔴 │ ⬆️➡️⬇️ │                             │
├──────────────────────┴────────┴───────┴─────────────────────────────┤
│ Focus Areas for Next Quarter:                                        │
│ 1. _______________________________________________                   │
│ 2. _______________________________________________                   │
│ 3. _______________________________________________                   │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Visual Health Check Board

         🟢 AWESOME                    🔴 NEEDS ATTENTION
              ↑                              ↑
    ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
    │ Easy to Release    [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Suitable Process   [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Tech Quality       [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Value              [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Speed              [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Mission            [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Fun                [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Learning           [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Support            [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Pawns or Players   [=========⚪=========]       │
    │ Teamwork           [=========⚪=========]       │
    └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Dimension Deep Dive

Easy to Release

Awesome (Green):

One-click deployments
Automated testing and rollback
Deploy multiple times per day
No fear of releases

Needs Attention (Red):

Manual deployment steps
Releases require weekends
High anxiety around releases
Rollback is difficult

Improving actions:

Automate deployment pipeline
Add feature flags
Improve monitoring and alerting
Practice deployments frequently

Suitable Process

Awesome (Green):

Process fits team’s needs
Ceremonies feel valuable
Right amount of structure
Team owns and adapts process

Needs Attention (Red):

Process feels bureaucratic
Ceremonies are boring or wasteful
Too rigid or too chaotic
Process imposed from outside

Improving actions:

Retrospective on process itself
Experiment with ceremony changes
Remove unnecessary steps
Empower team to adapt

Tech Quality

Awesome (Green):

Clean, readable code
Comprehensive test coverage
Easy to understand and modify
Technical debt under control

Needs Attention (Red):

Messy, confusing code
Little or no tests
Fear of making changes
Growing technical debt

Improving actions:

Schedule tech debt sprints
Improve code review process
Add testing requirements
Refactoring time in each sprint

Value

Awesome (Green):

Proud of what we ship
Users love our product
Clear impact visible
Meaningful work

Needs Attention (Red):

Embarrassed by quality
Users complain frequently
Unclear if work matters
Ship features nobody uses

Improving actions:

Connect with real users
Share user feedback with team
Measure feature adoption
Celebrate successful deliveries

Speed

Awesome (Green):

Features ship quickly
Rarely blocked by dependencies
Fast decision making
Minimal waiting time

Needs Attention (Red):

Everything takes forever
Constantly blocked
Decisions drag on
Long waiting periods

Improving actions:

Identify and remove blockers
Reduce external dependencies
Empower faster decisions
Smaller batch sizes

Mission

Awesome (Green):

Clear purpose understood by all
Know why work matters
Aligned on priorities
Meaningful direction

Needs Attention (Red):

Unclear why team exists
Conflicting priorities
Work feels random
No compelling vision

Improving actions:

Create team mission statement
Regular alignment sessions
Connect work to outcomes
Share the “why” more often

Fun

Awesome (Green):

Enjoy coming to work
Team has fun together
Celebrate wins
Positive energy

Needs Attention (Red):

Work is a grind
No joy or celebration
Negative atmosphere
Dread Mondays

Improving actions:

Team social activities
Celebrate accomplishments
Reduce unnecessary stress
Address toxic behaviors

Learning

Awesome (Green):

Learning new things regularly
Time for growth
Knowledge sharing happens
Skills improving

Needs Attention (Red):

No time to learn
Stuck with same skills
No knowledge sharing
Falling behind

Improving actions:

Learning time in sprints
Tech talks and demos
Conference/training budget
Pair programming rotation

Support

Awesome (Green):

Get help when needed
Other teams responsive
Dependencies managed
Resources available

Needs Attention (Red):

Constantly blocked
No response from others
Missing resources
Fighting for attention

Improving actions:

Build relationships with dependencies
Escalation paths defined
Resource allocation discussions
Regular dependency syncs

Pawns or Players

Awesome (Green):

Control our own destiny
Input on decisions
Autonomous team
Trusted to figure things out

Needs Attention (Red):

Told what to do
No input on decisions
Micromanaged
Just following orders

Improving actions:

Push for team autonomy
Involve team in planning
Demonstrate trustworthiness
Communicate team capabilities

Teamwork

Awesome (Green):

True collaboration
Help each other out
Shared ownership
Trust and respect

Needs Attention (Red):

Working in silos
No collaboration
Individual not team focus
Blame culture

Improving actions:

Pair/mob programming
Shared team goals
Team building activities
Address conflicts directly

When to Use the Squad Health Check

Situation	Why Health Check Works
Quarterly assessment	Comprehensive team evaluation
New team formation	Establish baseline health
Before/after major changes	Measure impact
Multiple team comparison	Organization-wide view
Leadership reporting	Structured health metrics
Continuous improvement programs	Track progress over time

When to Choose Other Formats

Sprint retrospectives: Use Start Stop Continue or 4Ls
Specific incident review: Use Timeline retrospective
Quick check-in: Use Mad Sad Glad
Action-focused: Use Keep Drop Try

For discussion prompts that pair well with this format, see our retrospective questions guide.

Customizing Dimensions

Adapt the dimensions to your context:

Add Dimensions

Common additions:

Customer Focus — How connected are we to users?
Collaboration — How well do we work with other teams?
Work-Life Balance — Is workload sustainable?
Psychological Safety — Can we speak up without fear?

Remove Dimensions

If some don’t apply:

Easy to Release — May not apply to non-software teams
Tech Quality — Adjust for non-technical teams

Reword Dimensions

Make language fit your culture:

“Pawns or Players” → “Autonomy”
“Fun” → “Engagement”

Tips for Facilitating Health Checks

Create Safety for Honest Assessment

Use anonymous voting initially
Normalize that yellow/red is okay
Focus on improvement, not blame
Thank people for honest assessments

Manage Time Carefully

With 11 dimensions, time pressure is real:

Spend more time on red/yellow items
Quick acknowledgment for unanimous green
Table detailed discussions for follow-up

Track Trends Over Time

The real value comes from tracking changes:

Document results after each session
Compare to previous assessments
Celebrate improving trends
Address declining trends

Involve the Right People

Consider who participates:

Core team members essential
Product owner for context
Manager optional (may affect honesty)
Consider anonymous surveys for sensitive topics

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: Running Too Frequently

Problem: Monthly health checks become stale Fix: Run quarterly; use simpler formats for sprints

Mistake 2: No Follow-Through

Problem: Issues identified but not addressed Fix: Select 2-3 focus areas with clear action plans

Mistake 3: Comparing Teams Competitively

Problem: Teams feel judged against each other Fix: Use for team self-improvement, not ranking

Mistake 4: Ignoring Trends

Problem: Only looking at current state Fix: Always capture and discuss direction of change

If your team benefits from structured assessment:

Team Health Check Templates — Alternative assessment models
360 Degree Retrospective — Multi-perspective review
Psychological Safety Retrospective — Safety-focused assessment

For regular retrospectives:

4Ls Retrospective — Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For
Starfish Retrospective — Five-category action focus

See all options in our sprint retrospective formats guide.

Try Squad Health Check in RetroFlow

Looking for a quick way to run this format? RetroFlow has a ready-made Squad Health Check template with anonymous input and built-in voting. It’s free and takes about 30 seconds to set up.

Run your retro →

Summary

The Spotify Squad Health Check assesses team health across 11 dimensions:

Easy to Release — Deployment pain
Suitable Process — Way of working fit
Tech Quality — Code health
Value — Delivery quality
Speed — Velocity and blockers
Mission — Purpose clarity
Fun — Team enjoyment
Learning — Growth opportunities
Support — Help availability
Pawns or Players — Autonomy level
Teamwork — Collaboration quality

Use traffic light colors (green/yellow/red) plus trends (improving/stable/declining) for nuanced assessment. Run quarterly to track team health over time.