As we love to say when answering many questions pertaining
to Agile, “It depends.” Not the answer
you want to hear, but let me elaborate. Extreme Programming (XP) introduced the
term coach into the Agile community. The role was intended to both be a mentor
on XP practices and a hands-on developer when needed. Scrum created the role of
the Scrum Master with similar expectations but without the emphasis of being a
hands-on developer.
The term, Agile coach, has become ubiquitous; however, it
hasn’t been used as XP intended. Quite often, the term refers to an external
consultant and very seldom will you see it applied to an internal position.
I have played the role of Agile coach on and off over the
last decade, and I didn’t always use the term coach. I was a coach when I was a
program manager of a large Agile initiative; I was a coach when I was a
functional development manager; and I was an Agile coach consultant hired to
serve multiple Scrum teams. What was
common for each of those roles was that I was the most experienced person in
the room on Agile practices and I had a passion for passing on that knowledge
to the teams I was working with.
In the first two instances, though I wasn’t formally named a
coach, it was clear based upon my experience and willingness to share, that
people felt comfortable approaching me for advice and discussion. Recently as
an Agile Coach consultant, the same dynamic was true, but my role was more
formal.
Do I need to be
called an Agile coach to be an Agile coach?
Anybody with a passion for learning and sharing Agile best
practices can be a coach. Becoming a coach is like becoming a leader. As with
leaders, coaches can emerge from within a team.
·
Active listening
·
Influence without authority
·
Experience – with both success and failure
·
The right attitude!
If they don’t work for me, how can I tell them what to do?
Here is a real situation I faced while coaching a Scrum
Master. I had just sat through a very painful Sprint Retrospective:
Coach: “How did you feel that
Retrospective went?”
Scrum Master: “It went fine, but
the team is bored with them so I try to get them over with as quickly as
possible.”
Coach: “Are you open to working
with me to prepare something more fun and engaging for the next Sprint
Retrospective?”
Scrum Master: “Definitely!”
In this situation, I didn’t start
immediately telling her what I would do differently, I gave her an opportunity
to choose whether she wanted help or not.
How can I be an Agile
coach for people that work for me?
I find this situation to be the easiest in many ways. My
management style is very much in line with a typical coaching style. I work
with the individual on their career goals and set a specific Agile maturity
path based upon their experience and role. Some of these goals are around Agile
best practices and engineering principles, and most often, it is about soft
skills like listening, being self-organizing, and peer influencing.
So, back to the
original question, does my organization need an Agile coach?
Every organization that is in the beginning or in the midst
of implementing Agile needs someone who can be an Agile Coach. The question
really should be, “Who should be playing the role of Agile Coach?”
If the Scrum Master is experienced and has the soft skills
necessary, then the Scrum Master is often the coach. If there is a development
manager or practice lead with the necessary background and desire, then they
can be the coach. A team member can emerge as the coach if he or she has the
passion and emerges from within the team.
If none of these internal candidates exist, you may need to
look outside the organization—at least on a temporary basis—to fill this role.
The ultimate goal is for everyone on the team to have a high level knowledge of
Agile principles and practices, so that they can self-organize and continue to
improve; resolve impediments; be productive; and truly enjoy their jobs. Then .
. . there will no longer be the need for one individual to be a coach.
About the author, Dan Tousignant, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM I, CSP
Dan is a lifelong project manager and trainer with extensive
experience in managing software development projects. Based upon his experience, he has adopted both Agile as the primary method for developing and
implementing software. He is passionate about the leadership emerging from
self-organizing teams.
Dan has over 20 years of experience providing world class
project management for strategic projects, direct P& L experience managing
up to 50 million dollar software development project budgets, experience
managing multi-million dollar outsourced software development efforts and
strong, demonstrated, results-driven leadership skills including ability to
communicate a clear vision, build strong teams, and drive necessary change within
organizations.
Dan holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in Industrial
Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is a Certified
Project Management Professional, Professional Scrum Master, PMI Agile Certified
Practitioner and Certified Scrum Professional and is the owner of Cape Project Management, Inc.
Cape Project
Management, Inc.
250 1st Ave
Suite 519
Boston, MA
02129, USA
email:
dan@capeprojectmanagement.com
