Joakim Sundén from Spotify and Tight Loose Tight

On Monday, I attended the SmidigDig conference, and the most compelling part of the event was listening to Joakim Sundén speak about Spotify’s unique development and leadership culture. During a panel discussion, Joakim was asked how a leader can combine direction with autonomy. In response, he referred to “a Norwegian person” and mentioned the Tight–Loose–Tight model as a great example of striking that balance.

As it happens, I’m that Norwegian person. It was a fun surprise—and a great opportunity to chat with Joakim during the break about how he discovered the model. I genuinely believe the Tight–Loose–Tight framework perfectly illustrates the essence of his story.

Joakim’s talk is worth watching, but here is a summary of the storyline:

1. Leaders identified user segments they were weak in—specifically “lean-back” users.
2. The initial idea came from a hack week, where developers experiment freely for a week. It was developed by two engineers.
3. The first prototype was a simple idea called Play It Forward, which turned out to be a success.
4. After a few months, user data showed surprisingly high engagement, sparking a new idea: Updated Weekly.
5. Leaders scaled the team as they got good data from the users, adding designers and a product manager.
6. The team had access to data and could observe real-time user behavior as they developed the solution.
7. The CEO didn’t believe in the idea—but he didn’t stop them.
8. The team tested the concept continuously with live users.
9. Although the feature initially didn’t scale well on the platform, the team engaged the platform team to solve performance issues. This was expensive, but at this stage, they were certain that the work was worth it.

It’s an amazing case that illustrates the tremendous shift required for most companies to become truly product-led organizations.

Outside-In Focus

Joakim describes a culture where everyone clearly understands who they’re building for—the customers, not the leaders. Leaders point toward the users and highlight which segments are underserved. All employees are deeply involved in understanding customers through data and insights.

Loose: Create a Culture of Experimentation

The early-stage cost of the idea in Joakim’s story was minimal—just two developers, no roadmap, no prioritization meetings, no product advisory boards. The team was empowered to explore freely. As momentum built and data confirmed their success, leadership responded by supporting and scaling the effort.

When the team hit a platform performance issue, the cost increased. But by then, they had solid evidence that the idea was working. They didn’t scale the solution prematurely—they waited until they had proof.

Tight–Loose–Tight in Action

This story demonstrates how the Tight–Loose–Tight model plays out in a product culture:

1. First Tight – There is a shared commitment to user focus and understanding the market.
2. Loose – The culture allows autonomy—even to challenge the CEO’s assumptions—and encourages cross-team support.
3. Second Tight – Accountability returns when scaling: if your idea doesn’t deliver customer value, it won’t move forward.

Most great product organizations work on hard problems in ways that can seem chaotic from the outside. The Tight–Loose–Tight model gives you the lens to recognize the structure in the apparent chaos. Joakim’s story shows that real productivity in product development isn’t about writing more code—it’s about learning faster from users.