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.
Mark Levison has been helping Scrum teams and organizations with Agile, Scrum and Kanban style approaches since 2001. From certified scrum master training to custom Agile courses, he has helped well over 8,000 individuals, earning him respect and top rated reviews as one of the pioneers within the industry, as well as a raft of certifications from the ScrumAlliance. Mark has been a speaker at various Agile Conferences for more than 20 years, and is a published Scrum author with eBooks as well as articles on InfoQ.com, ScrumAlliance.org an AgileAlliance.org.
great minds think alike?
fools seldom differ?
My math teacher in high school used that one a lot 🙂
Adam thanks for reminding me of the corollary – I’m not sure if want to know where you count me 🙂
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. https://www.davenicolette.net/taosoft/index.blog/1846798/water/
Hi, Mark!
I want to share a nifty coincidence with you related to this article. Our discussion last week on #AgileQuestions was focused on this question: “How Can a New Team Ensure their 1st Cycle is Successful?” The answer, by consensus, is to work closely with a guide, a coach, a process facilitator.