Published on 10 Aug 2020 in agile
Agile Coach is a term widely used. It’s been defined by the Agile Coaching Institute, but also frequently interpreted and modified by organisations and practitioners.
Whether you call any difference a “context specific improvement” or “corruption” depends on whether it fits or contradicts Agile, progressive principles. Certainly some Agile Coach interpretations do, but otherwise looking at the context and not sticking with a rigid dictate of what something is and how it should be done is the very essence of agility.
In this article, I present my view on what the role is and what great looks like. It’s shaped by my experience and what I’ve learned over the years; I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t work. I’ve been a Scrum Master 5 years, interviewed, hired and managed a team of Scrum Masters, hired and led a team of Agile Coaches in a transformation; working as an Agile Coach at team and leadership levels in a major telco.
Done right the role is a powerful catalyst for change and improvement. Done badly it can be ineffective and even detrimental - like a doctor prescribing the wrong medicine to a patient.
Here’s a high level description of the role; it supports an organisation, its teams and people in their adoption of Agile values (or similar modern values related to people, flow, improvement and customer focus). It encourages experimentation with new ways of working, empiricism and adoption of new behaviours promoting flow, continuous improvement, quality communication and improved customer outcomes.
The word “Coach” is misleading, since it’s only a facet of the role. The Agile Coaching Institute uses “Practitioner”, but it seems that “Coach” has stuck. As the below image shows, taken from their website, other expected skills are teaching, mentoring, technical mastery, business mastery, transformation mastery and facilitation. Individuals will bring their own skills and be stronger in some areas than others. That’s what makes diversity great.
Even the word “Agile” is limiting. The ACI has included “Lean”, however personally I’ve sought individuals with a wider skillset, which I also strive to develop myself. Communication skills expertise, Liberating Structures, Systems thinking and a number of other tools and techniques can be useful. Look at what the organisation wants to achieve, then establish the skills you need. Like the old adage; if you only bring a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
Another diagram that’s useful is the one below. It’s a modification of a much older diagram on “the consulting role”. This modification works for our case (credit to Dandy People who created it).
Every business and context is different, every team is at a different stage in their journey. A great Agile Coach selects the appropriate stance for the context and will modify this over time. Usually in a way that gives individuals the capability and confidence to no longer need the support.
An Agile Coach works at one, or all of three levels.
Team level: supporting a number of teams of “doers” carrying out work on a product. This would involve observation and coaching of the team or individuals. The “why” behind suggestions and techniques to try to solve a particular problem. Training of the team in roles, techniques and events. “Showing by example” - hands on mentoring or training of individuals by facilitating events or working through activities (eg helping a new Product Owner on managing a backlog). If a team isn’t doing Scrum but has a dedicated individual to support them with ways of working expertise and Agile, then they’re generally called an Agile Coach to be non Scrum specific.
Team of teams level: supporting a team of teams of a particular value stream, product or programme. The principle difference between this and team level is a focus on handoff points and dependencies between teams. Using Agile approaches to minimise or improve these.
Enterprise level: sometimes called “Enterprise Coaches”. These individuals will work with senior managers and business leaders. Helping them understand the “why” behind certain Agile concepts, and how they can be implemented. Think organisational design, creating an environment supportive of the Agile principles, policies etc. I should add that I find creating a hierarchy of Agile Coaches unhelpful. A great Agile Coach should work at all levels from time to time in order to keep their skills sharp.
Let’s be clear. An Agile Coach is not necessarily more advanced or a step up from a Scrum Master. Many assume it is because they generally work at a higher level and earn more. I’ve known Scrum Masters that are more knowledgeable and capable than someone calling themself an Agile Coach, and vice versa.
If you’re hiring an Agile Coach, you should expect a broader experience with various ways of working techniques. One may be Scrum but they should be framework agnostic. That’s not to say there aren’t a lot of great Scrum Masters out there that apply much more than Scrum and XP.
You’ve got a problem to solve. The old ways of doing things aren’t working, or are leaving you behind the competition. You’re bringing on Agile Coaches to help the organisation towards Agile values and ways of working. If this is successful you will see happier people, working in an environment where they can raise issues and see the value they’re producing; improved business outcomes, from increased customer focus and connection; a more effective organisation through improved feedback, shorter lead times (a true measure of agility) and accelerated innovation with a culture of continuous improvement. That’s why the role is important - but only if it can fix your problem.
My prediction:
Agile Coaches will still be called such when helping businesses to roll out specific Agile frameworks, or working with teams using Agile, eg XP and Scrum.
Increasingly we’ll see a role that isn’t specifically related to Agile, or confused by the word “coach”. Something along the lines of “Ways of working specialist” or “Agility Practitioner”: (as mentioned the ACI already uses Agile Practitioner). This is probably closer to what I’ve intended for the role when I’ve hired Agile Coaches, something broader. Once new terms are familiar, they’ll be easier to hire for.