In response to seeing a "how to pass your Scrum Master/Agile Coach Interview" we've created a way for employers to call BS on candidates who could otherwise dupe their way into a coaching role.
How to Hire an Agile Coach
@JASONLITTLE | LEANINTUIT.COM
OK, WHAT THE HELL?
Job Description:
• This role is to provide direct coaching and support to programs, projects & teams that are standing up, actively planning, and executing using an Agile operating model that is being developed and adopted by <GROUP>.
• The Senior Agile Delivery Coach will provide leadership in the definition of the agile blueprint and plan for delivery entities in the area of agile organization design; enablement of best practices that includes successful on-boarding,
training, implementation and deployment of accelerated delivery principles for projects within <GROUP>. The Senior Agile Delivery Coach will provide direct support to the larger (Tier 1 & 2) programs while supporting indirect and SME
support through the team of Delivery Coaches to the balance of the <GROUP> portfolios.
Must Have Skills:
• Minimum 5+ Years’ experience in an Agile delivery/transformation/training/coaching role
• Minimum 5+ Years’ experience in large organizational transformations
• Proven experience in coaching agile software development and/or delivery teams with regard to helping organizations adapt to an agile methodology and mind set.
• Someone with a passion for agile, pragmatism about what agile looks like during a transformation; and a genuine commitment to helping people and organizations get better at what they do.
• Hands-on experience and previous accountability for delivery outcomes using Agile practices.
• Significant experience working with Agile methodologies, (Scrum is key)
• Prior experience in Software development and exposure to modern technologies (Strong software development background)
Must Have Soft Skills:
• Be an effective communicator at all levels, in both structured and non-hierarchical, informal structures
• Strong negotiations skills and ability to create ‘win-win’ outcomes.
• Outstanding customer service attributes both internally and externally
• Problem Solving / Analytical Thinking Skills
• Strong political savvy and sensitivity to cultural diversity
• Willingness to confront and be confronted
• Ability to work successfully with other strong egos
• Expertise in Training, Mentoring and Coaching
Nice To Have:
• Certified or Equivalent Experience in at least one Agile Delivery Methodology (CSM / CSP / CSC /PMI-ACP / SAFe )
• PMP or Prince2 Practitioner designations an asset
• Experience in DevOps is an asset
• Client’s Experience
Practice Management:
• Decisive coaching and mentoring of teams around client's <method> Delivery methodologies
• Facilitate definition & sharing of accelerated delivery best practices through informal communication channels and/or formal training sessions
• Support the on-going modification and implementation of a new Target Operating Model for agile delivery
Portfolio Governance:
• Work with the executive team and key project stakeholders to facilitate portfolio planning sessions for fiscal and on-going portfolio planning
• Support the changes required to project delivery and governance roles to affect a more delegated authority at the project team level
• Provide input in the development and maintain ongoing the portfolio reporting that accurately reflects the project health and financial status of agile projects
• Evolve the center of excellence governance process by providing insights from the active programs / projects
Program/Execution:
• Consult on agile model specifics that apply to the unique attributes of large programs, including organizational design around a product enabled delivery approach.
• Show the way - enable and maintain processes and communication to support geographically distributed delivery for agile
• Work with team members and team lead to facilitate risk-based prioritization sessions for iteration planning
• Support team through work list preparation (reduction to smallest part), and estimation techniques (Planning Poker)
• Execute Workshops and Leadership Seminars
Deliverables:
• Creation of the agile blueprint for large programs and dedicated LOB through intake engagement and discovery approaches in partnership with business and TS leaders.
• Strong direction and guidance towards the achievement of the target Agile operating state for programs and LOB.
• Agile enabled delivery teams
• In-team active coaching
• Mentoring on agility including junior coaches within Agile CoE
• Engagement / Initiation support
• Value and Benefits Realization through agile enablement
• Health Checks and Risk Monitoring
• Governance Design
kick ass developer
agile mindset
coach teams on our
prescriptive method
Willingness to confront and
be confronted?
work with executives
evolve governance process
mentor/train coaches
team-level process
coaching
evolve agile transformation
roadmap
any certification please!
WHERE PEOPLE THINK COACHES WORK
C-Level
Various
Resources
SVP Delivery
VP LOB 1 VP LOB 2 VP Tech
Program Mgr Director
QA Mgr Dev Mgr Mgr
Director
Business
IT
C-Level
SVP of
something
VP LOB 1
Director
Mgr
WHERE COACHES ACTUALLY WORK
C-Level
Various
Resources
SVP Delivery
VP LOB 1 VP LOB 2 VP Tech
Program Mgr Director
QA Mgr Dev Mgr Mgr
Director
Business
IT
C-Level
SVP of
something
VP LOB 1
Director
Mgr
WHY?
C-Level
Various
Resources
SVP Delivery
VP LOB 1 VP LOB 2 VP Tech
Program Mgr Director
QA Mgr Dev Mgr Mgr
Director
Business
IT
C-Level
SVP of
something
VP LOB 1
Director
Mgr
Objective: Make pilot
team in LOB 1 more
agile.
DIFFERENT SKILLS NEEDED
C-Level
Various
Resources
SVP Delivery
VP LOB 1 VP LOB 2 VP Tech
Program Mgr Director
QA Mgr Dev Mgr Mgr
Director
Business
IT
C-Level
SVP of
something
VP LOB 1
Director
Mgr
TEAM LEVEL COACHES
MULTI-TEAM, MANAGEMENT, PROGRAM LEVEL
COACHES
EXECUTIVE LEVEL COACHES
THE METHODOLOGY BIGOT
Strengths: knows their method inside
and out, knows how to apply it and
probably has lots of stories and
anecdotal evidence.
Weaknesses: dismisses ideas from
other methods, can become defensive
when their method is attacked or
misused.
Natural Habitat: Can be observed at their native <method> conferences
and trolling people on their <method> specific Linked In forms
Spotting One: number of times they say their method of choice in the
interview. Answers most questions with how their method works.
Challenging them: Tell a story where their method didn’t work and what
happened or how they’d work in an environment that uses multiple
methods.
That’s not how <method> works, you’re doing it wrong!!!!
THE GRANOLA EATER
Strengths: cares deeply for people,
brings more than ‘agile’ tools, extremely
thoughtful, deliberate, warm and caring.
Weaknesses: may not have a thick
enough skin for enterprise coaching, or
hostile environments.
Natural Habitat: The local hemp or organic food store.
Spotting One: Can become preachy at times, is EXTREMELY offended by
this slide. (sorry!) 8-D
Challenging them: The organization has decided to layoff 100 people, 12
of which are on teams you coach, what would you do?
“you need to build a learning org so we can all learn and share!”
THE PRAGMATIST
Strengths: well read, brings well-
rounded tools/ideas from multiple
disciplines, well connected to many
different communities.
Weaknesses: may confuse you with too
many options, may seem egotistical
due to their knowledge, will complain I
missed something in this preso
Natural Habitat: Multi-discipline conferences, re-posting IFL Science
posts on Facebook.
Spotting One: number of times they suggest ‘non-agile’ tools/ideas,
answers most questions with ‘it depends’, and/or answers questions
with stories.
Challenging them: Ask how they operate in a highly regulated
environment with established standards.
“here’s something I saw at another org, it might just work for you”
THE ZEALOT
Strengths: cares for people, firmly
believes in the Agile Manifesto,
courageous, inspiring at times, courage
of convictions
Weaknesses: may lash out when
values/principles aren’t enacted, unable
to budge from ‘their view’ of what Agile
is.
Natural Habitat: Trolling Linked In forums telling everyone their wrong.
Also tweeting out how wrong I am during this preso. (make sure to take
me!) 8-D
Spotting One: Gets preachy when challenged about ideas that contradict
the agile manifesto, may have a messiah complex, might walk out of this
preso after reading this. (sorry!) 8-D
Challenging them: Ask them what they’d do in a harsh environment, or
toxic culture that needs time to transition and “just can’t” follow the
values/principles yet.
“agile is mindset. You can’t DO Agile, you have to BE Agile”
THE TEAM PLAYER
Strengths: curious, extremely relatable,
strong at establishing great
relationships with teams quickly,
helpful and genuine.
Weaknesses: may ‘go native’ and try to
protect the team, might not be able to
(or interested in) address organizational
barriers due to strong team focus.
Natural Habitat: In their basement writing code or contributing to open
source projects in their spare time.
Spotting One: Goes right into the details of the project or technology
during the interview, wants to meet the team before deciding to join.
Challenging them: How would they operate in an environment where
senior leadership wants standard tools/practices across teams.
“cool! show me what you’re building…what technology are you using…”
THE DISRUPTOR
Strengths: stupidly courageous,
understands interconnectedness of
organizations, fair, takes the bullet for
the team/org, swears sometimes.
Weaknesses: can be disruptive for the
sake of disruption, appears egotistical,
writes offensive coach profiles, tells
brutal truth, swears sometimes.
Natural Habitat: Unemployment office.
Spotting One: challenges everything, asks “why not” instead of
following the status quo, attacks problems head-on, probably has long
hair and wears shirts with funny slogans.
Challenging them: go for it and see what happens.
“let’s try this…better to ask for forgiveness…”
THE INTELECTUAL
Strengths: wicked smart. skilled at
simplifying complex problems, helps
people attach meaning to their
observations through their knowledge
Weaknesses: uses words like
“obsequiousness”, may be long on
theory - short on experience, might
make you feel dumb.
Natural Habitat: Quora.
Spotting One: wears jeans and a sport coat, may or may not be named
Chris, has a nice haircut.
Challenging them: tell a story about how you applied <that theory>
“Coloniality may be thought as an initially imposed epistemology…”
THE COACH’S COACH
Strengths: Upbeat, extremely
inquisitive, authentic, genuine,
empathetic, doesn’t need context to
help coach people through challenges
Weaknesses: might not have worked on
a software team before, may be too
‘coachy’ at times, may not be disruptive
enough when it’s needed
Natural Habitat: A retreat, or top of a mountain.
Spotting One: asks more questions than you do. Uses open ended
questions and deliberate language.
Challenging them: say “stop freaking coaching me and tell me what
you’d do!!!”
“wonderful story! Tell me more about why you think that worked!”
FINDING AND HIRING A COACH
1 Where will your coach play?
2 What skills are the most important?
3 What do you expect?
4 Match 1 - 3 with the candidate
5 Creative interview tips, and how to decide
FINDING A COACH
WHERE WILL YOUR COACH PLAY?
Organization
Executive
Management
Team/Project
1
INTERVIEWING AND DECIDING
5 Visualize your
candidate’s profiles
decide what tradeoffs you’ll make
let the team interview the candidates
hire 3 for a week to audition them
always start with an exit strategy