Autonomy provides employees with a sense of collective ownership. 

They are part of a greater whole, active (rather than passive) members of the team, “making a positive overall contribution to the organization”.

Alignment enables autonomy. It’s important that everybody understands the company/startup culture. 

The stronger our alignment, the more autonomy we can afford to grant. Autonomy with alignment increases motivation, quality, and faster releases.

Spotify has little standardization, it doesn’t have a formal standard. They believe that cross-pollination is better than standardization. For example, when enough Squads use a specific tool, that tool becomes a path of less resistance and other Squads tend to choose the same...