Who is an Agile Coach?

An agile coach guides, helps and enlightens organizations on implementing agile methodologies. They are a change agent who essentially helps teams to assess impediments, rethink and apply agile techniques. By doing so, they tend to bring a shift in the mindset of the teams and overall culture in an organization. Companies that wish to transcend into the agile culture or companies that just wish to improve their way of working, agile coaches are needed.

Ideally, an agile coach has previously worked as a project manager or a scrum master. Needless to say, they have an in-depth knowledge of agile software development and an understanding of a corporate environment. Agile coaches share their professional experience with the teams, which they find relatable and helpful to learn from.

An agile coach needs to have strong communication, problem-solving and interpersonal skills. On top of that, they have to be motivating and encouraging.

Coaches may work for months or even years. They are mostly contractual or may even have a permanent role in some organizations. A permanent coach would have an advantage of possessing knowledge about their teams’ domain and their processes. But a coach that has been hired on a temporary basis, will have the ability to bring new approaches and alternative methods to the employees on how to tackle impediments.

Types of Agile Coach

There are three types of coaches:

Technical coaches: These coaches work closely with developers. Technical coaches help apply test-driven development techniques and support developers in constantly refactoring their work and educate them with newer and quicker methods.

Process or management coaches: They work with project managers, business analysts or line managers to help establish leadership for agile teams and supervise successful adoption of agile methods. With the management, it is more about helping people rethink their assumption models to improve management, processes and requirements.

Non-directive coaches: These coaches help solve agile related problems of every individual.

What does an Agile Coach do?

For every organization, there is a different and unique organizational structure. In order to give proper guidance, coaches have one on one sessions with all the team members. The business goes as usual while the teams are being taught.

Agile coaches aim to start by improving the leadership of an organization. Every individual from the top management level down to the team level of an organization has to be a part of the coaching process. They describe their roles and instruct them on how to deliver high-level product in short increments and to maintain focus on what the customers really want. The management is usually reluctant to get training as they feel their power and leadership is being challenged.

Described below are the few key points of what an agile coach really does:

  • Train on ceremonies like planning, daily meetings, retrospectives and once the teams become familiar with the activities.
  • Guide teams on the processes, planning and implementation of agile methodologies in a real working environment.
  • Create an agile portfolio management process that continuously tracks and prioritizes work according to its value and ability. Thus aligning strategy and development.
  • Teach how scaling can be done to a large number of employees.
  • Advise on how to deliver a high-quality product in short increments.
  • Recognizes and understands the pain points that every team member faces. Coaches then help their teams to make decisions with the right application of agile methodologies.

Certifications and Training Programs for becoming an Agile Coach

There are many certifications of becoming an agile coach which are listed as follows:

There are various training programs listed below that assist in enhancing the skill set of becoming an effective agile coach.

Conclusion

Agile coaches are mentors that can help you navigate in an agile way, in a highly competitive market. They guide on challenges that may appear, cultivate team collaboration and design programs that allow you to seamlessly manoeuvre in changing conditions.

When a company hires an agile coach, it shows that they are seriously concerned and determined to bring change. They really do help in guiding teams to reach peak performance.

Reports from Yahoo! suggest that coaches can make a significant contribution. In this study, Scrum teams without coaching support increased their productivity by 35%, while those with coach support recorded 300% or greater improvement. (source)