Why use an Agile Coach?
Occasionally, I’m asked why should you use an Agile Coach. I’ve read a book or taken a CSM course. It seems pretty easy. So why would I want to hire a coach?
With a single team you can bootstrap without too much trouble. Even then a good coach will still help you navigate the adoption process.
So why use a coach?
- You want to get going faster
- You want to avoid the mistakes that most people make when they start (Scrummerfall, Command and Control Management)
- You’ve started and don’t know how to deal with the organizational impediments that Agile has revealed
- You want to scale
- You want to recover an “Agile Attempt” that went off the rails
- You want to recover a traditional project that is late and over budget
- You’re struggling to Agile in a hostile environment
- …
The reasons vary with each client, but in my mind, it’s simply that Agile may be easy to describe, but it’s hard to do.
Update: Don Grey and Esther Derby have already written on this topic. Great minds think alike.

November 23, 2009 at 7:24 pm | Adam D.
great minds think alike?
fools seldom differ?
My math teacher in high school used that one a lot
November 24, 2009 at 9:23 am | Mark Levison
Adam thanks for reminding me of the corollary – I’m not sure if want to know where you count me
November 24, 2009 at 4:51 pm | Dave Nicolette
Mark, I like your take on coaching, as well as Don’s and Esther’s. Here’s a comment I wrote on the subject a while back. Don’t worry, it’s uncharacteristically brief. http://www.davenicolette.net/taosoft/index.blog/1846798/water/